


In a Heartbeat

by imaginentertain



Series: A Lifetime of Moments [2]
Category: Days of Our Lives
Genre: Future Fic, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-29
Updated: 2014-08-02
Packaged: 2018-01-27 01:28:40
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 97,749
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1709999
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/imaginentertain/pseuds/imaginentertain
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Things can change in a second, in a heartbeat.  You meet someone, you lose someone, you fall in love.  And when your heart beats for someone else then change can be a difficult thing.</p><p>Will asked Sonny for something: a boy with dark hair and dark eyes that he could never say no to.</p><p>Sonny would give that to Will in a heartbeat.  Things change in a heartbeat.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Sequel to "Forever Isn't As Long As You Might Think". So might help to go read that one first!

"I'll go."

Those two words are spoken almost like a command, and good, obedient Sonny lies back down on the bed as Will climbs out to see to Arianna. He doesn't complain, he's learned not to. Not because he doesn't want to go and see her (he does, his heart is clenching and hurting just as much as Will's) and it's not because he doesn't want to challenge Will on it (he does, he is just as much a part of Ari's life, maybe even more now), it's just that he's tired. He's tired in the way that comes from not sleeping for weeks on end. He's tired in the way that comes from having to put on a brave face for so long. He's tired in the way that comes when you spend all of your effort papering over the cracks instead of filling them.

From next door Arianna's cries softened as her father provided a poor replacement for what she was really missing, who she was really missing. Silently he counted the seconds in his head, inching closer to the moment where he knew Will would decide; leave her be or bring her through. She seems to settle and Will's arms are empty when he returns to their room.

Sonny's have felt empty for a long time.

Will climbs back into bed and they lie there, side by side but a gulf between them. It has been like this for days, weeks, but somehow tonight is the night that Sonny can't take another second of it. His body betrays him and when Will turns his head a little he can see the steady stream of tears flowing from his husband's eyes.

"Son..."

"I hate this," Sonny whispers towards the ceiling. "I hate what it's doing to Ari, I hate what it's doing to you and I hate what it's doing to us."

"You think I don't?"

"She's gone, Will. She's not coming back for a very long time and even when she does get out do you really think anyone in Salem would be happy to see her? Even Rafe's barely going to see her these days."

"I get it, you get it, everyone does. But all Ari knows is that her mom was taken away from her and—"

"And you away from me," Sonny says bluntly. "The only good part about this was that she kept me out of it. She protected me, right at the end, because Arianna needs us. She was losing one parent—" He stopped and wiped his eyes, but kept his gaze fixed on the ceiling above. "I couldn't tell you. You know that and I know you understand that. I know it's not really me you're angry at it's Gabi and I'm just in the firing line. But there's only so much of it I can take."

"Before...?" Will prompts.

"What? You think I'm going to leave you?"

"That's usually what happens," Will says, a note of resignation and fear in his voice. "The people in my life get caught up in some stupid and crazy scheme and I get hurt and left to pick up the pieces and, in the end, I'm on my own."

With that Sonny sits up so quickly that in the time it takes Will to blink his vision is filled with Sonny. In the space of another blink they're kissing, hard and desperate as if it's oxygen to them. And in a way it is because neither of them can remember the last time they were like this. Giving in to muscle memory Sonny's hand hooks under Will's hip, slotting them in together, and while neither of them are fully aroused by this it's more than enough so Will rolls them over, his knees either side of Sonny's hips.

"You are not losing me," Sonny whispers when Will stops kissing him, hovering just above his body. "Forever, remember?"

"When we didn't know," Will whispers in confession, "when Justin said you could be... I prayed. I prayed that if one of you had to... that it wouldn't be you."

"Will."

"I prayed for Gabi to be sent down, not you, and—"

"And it is not your fault she's in jail," Sonny replies, his hands firmly on Will's hips. "She did that all by herself."

"It was supposed to be the three of us, raising Arianna together. Now for the next twenty five years it's..." He stops, kisses Sonny just once, and smiles because even though their lives up to this point have been punctuated with these short kisses this was the first in a long time that actually felt right. "She keeps asking when mommy is coming home and I don't know what to tell her."

"I know," Sonny soothes, his hands now running up Will's back. To his relief Will collapses into the touch, and soon he is settled on top of his husband, head to chest, and Sonny cradles him the way he does sometimes with Ari. "Let me help you figure it out?"

"I should have done that from the start."

"It's OK."

"I love you. More than anything, I love you."

Usually when Will says this Sonny will tease him about Arianna but tonight he is taking the compliment. Tonight he is taking his husband's love and he is hanging on to it because he had started to think that he would live the rest of his life without it. Tonight there are no teasing words, no conditionals, no rank ordering and no quantification. Tonight they hold on to each other and love each other, sleep in the same space as each other (Will will eventually roll over when he can't get comfortable, but missing the sound of Sonny's heartbeat he will rest his head on Sonny's chest) and tomorrow they will take their little girl to the park. They will tell her, not for the first time, that Mommy did something bad and she was punished because of it. She has to go away and stay in a big house but that they can go and see her from time to time if that's what Ari wants. They will tell her that Mommy will always love her and will miss her so much, but Daddy and Papa are here and they will try to make it OK.

It'll be the first time they'll use the word OK, and at nearly four years old Arianna Grace is starting to understand the language a little more. She'll look from her daddy to her papa and somehow she will know that they're hurting too over Mommy leaving. So she will hug them and kiss them and tell _them_ that it will be OK.

It won't be, not for a while, but it's a start. And in a heartbeat they started to believe it themselves. 

~~

It's another few weeks before either of them realise. They have finally gotten around to clearing out the apartment, putting some of Gabi's things into storage, donating most of them. Sonny heard Will clear his throat and when he turned around he grinned.

"Oh my god," he exclaimed, crossing the room to take the booties from Will. "Can you believe Ari was this small once?"

"I'm constantly trying to forget that our little girl is growing up," Will said, lifting a small onesie from the drawer. "I can't believe she kept these."

"We have her first pair of shoes," Sonny pointed out, "and the outfit she came home from the hospital in."

"...Yeah, OK," Will laughed. "Oh my god, she was so small and do you remember the smell?"

"The new baby one or the need-a-new-diaper one?" Sonny laughed. "Because yes to both."

"She changed almost every day. When I'd come home from California it was like she was a different child."

"I guess. Seeing her day to day meant we didn't really notice the little things."

"I miss it."

"What?"

"The new baby stuff. I love her now, more than I did then of course, but watching her grow into who she is today? I miss it."

"So what? We have another one?" Sonny asked. Then he stopped. "Wow. How did we forget that?"

"What?" Will asked before his brain caught up. "Life?" he suggested with a shrug. "Once Ari was out of the hospital we had to wait for all the tests to be completed so we knew the treatment had worked, that holiday, more family dramas than I care to count, expanding the club, me finishing school, then when Nick left a parting gift implicating Gabi in the explosion—"

"OK, so life got in the way," Sonny said, "but what's in the way now?"

"What?"

"What's stopping us now?"

"Maybe our daughter who is only just getting used to her mom not being around, and you want to—"

"It's not like we'd be bringing home a baby tomorrow," Sonny pointed out, "and when we did talk about it we agreed we didn't want to adopt."

"Still feel a little selfish for that," Will said, running his hands down Sonny's arms, "it's just... Ari is biologically mine—"

"And mine," Sonny laughed, "well, in a way."

"If it's all the same to you I'd rather not repeat that with our next child," Will laughed, "but you know what I mean. I can't explain it, it's just..."

"What you want," Sonny said quietly, his hands moving around Will's waist. "So there's a lot to do: find an agency; find a donor; find a surrogate; get pregnant and somehow figure out how to be involved in the pregnancy without crowding the surrogate..."

"Wow." Will seemed to think for a moment. "You not got an ex-girlfriend you can sleep with?"

"Sorry, no," Sonny laughed, playfully hitting Will's backside.

"Be easier," Will continued.

"Be more complicated. The mom has rights too."

"How does that work in a surrogacy?" Will asked.

"Well, if you want... we can find out? Start to look into it?"

Will leaned forward and kissed Sonny gently. "Does this count as us moving on with our lives?"

"You know, I think it might."

"OK. Let's do it. Let's go for that boy with dark eyes and dark hair that I will never be able to refuse."

"You do understand the concept of parenting, right?" Sonny laughed. "Sometimes we have to say no."

"No," Will grinned before kissing him again. "Come on. I want to get this sorted before Ari gets back from preschool. We did promise her that this would be just her room."

"You know that will have to change when we have another baby, right?" Sonny pointed out. "He can't stay in with us forever."

"Guess we'll just have to buy a house then," Will said nonchalantly.

"Oh, and I guess you'll be expecting your club-owning husband to be buying that?"

" _Clubs_ ," Will corrected, "and yes. A room for each of the children, I want a walk-in closet, a garden and a playroom for the kids."

"Anything else?"

"Yeah, an office where I can write my bestseller."

"Got a plotline for that yet?"

"I'm thinking a sort of modern day superhero story, in which this guy has his life saved without him even realising it. And for some reason his superhero guardian sticks around, just doing little things each day which save him over and over and over. It takes him a while to notice but when he does? It's amazing."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah. And little by little our main character starts to realise that by just being around his superhero he's developing powers of his own; he's stronger and better than he was before, and sometimes he's the one who saves the day."

"I'd totally buy that," Sonny grinned, "if the ending was any good."

"Oh it's lovely," Will hummed, pressing himself up close to Sonny. "It ends with a house, a bedroom for each of their children – a boy and a girl –"

"Of course," Sonny laughed.

"-a garden and big playroom for their kids. And an office."

"Is this your way of telling me something?"

"Yeah," Will smiled, holding Sonny's dark gaze. "You are... _definitely_ buying me a house with a garden and a playroom and an office."

Sonny pulled at Will's waist, turning him towards the wall and pressing him against it, kissing the laughter from his lips.

~~

The conversation is shelved until the weekend, when Adrienne declares, in very typical Adrienne fashion, that the boys need time together. In the fishbowl town of Salem it's hard to keep secrets and so their troubles hadn't gone unnoticed. While things were certainly improving they didn't object to some alone time.

Arianna had objected (a little) to spending time with Grandmother Adrienne ("She's mean and I only get one scoop of ice cream.") but a bribe of more ice cream on her return had been enough to convince their little girl that it wouldn't hurt.

Sonny _may_ have also pointed out that she is his mom's first, and currently only, grandchild, and therefore will hold a special place in Adrienne's will. That had helped. He just wished that it was that easy when it came to his marriage. 

~~

"I'm sorry."

Will's apology came as a surprise, somewhere between them finishing off dinner and clearing away the table.

"What?" Sonny asked.

"I'm sorry. This... mess... between us. It was my fault."

"And how do you figure that one out?" Sonny asked, sitting back in his chair and folding his arms. "I was the one who kept the secret."

"And I was the one who got angry at you for trying to protect me."

"I was the one who insisted on honesty, when all the while I was a hypocrite."

"I pushed you away during the trial."

"I let you."

"I was just so mad at Gabi and I took it out at you."

"Same."

There was a moment's silence before they both burst into relieved laughter. Will put his hand on the table, palm up. Sonny slid his own hand into it, brushing the tips of his fingers along the lines which criss-crossed there as if reading his fortune.

"I love you," Will said. "That has never changed."

"I love you too, and that will never change. Neither will the fact that I will do anything to protect you."

"I'd do the same for you," Will said. "Whatever you needed me to do, whether you knew it or not, I'd do it."

"So can we be done with this? Ari needs us to move forward and—"

"Yes," Will said quickly. "Please, yes."

"So... now that we're no longer arguing over Gabi or... anything, what will we do with ourselves for the night?"

"I have an idea," Will grinned, squeezing Sonny's hand gently.

"Oh?" Sonny asked, his voice dropping suggestively.

"Research."

"I... research?" The heavy tone was gone from Sonny's voice, replaced with confusion.

"I... I want us to have another child."

"Yeah, we will."

"Now."

"N-now?" Sonny asked.

"Everyone keeps telling us we should move on, we should start to build our lives now that it's just us and Arianna, and... and we've talked about it, we both want it. So why not now?"

"Because... because in the last twelve months our lives have been turned upside down what with Gabi and—"

"And before that it was waiting for the news that Ari was in remission and before that it was everything with Nick and before that it was Gabi's pregnancy and before that it was me coming out and there is always something, Sonny. There will always be something and if we wait for things to be calm and ready then we will be waiting for the rest of our lives."

"But this is big, Will, we have to be ready—"

"I wasn't exactly ready to be a dad when Gabi told me she was pregnant but I got there. And when you found out she was mine you... well... There hasn't been a single moment where we could have said, 'yeah, the timing is perfect'. We make it perfect, Son.

"And anyway," he continued, "it's not as if we'd have him tomorrow."

"Him?" Sonny grinned.

"I told you. I want a boy. Your son."

" _Our_ son," Sonny corrected.

"With dark hair and dark eyes."

"You know this is insane, right? We are only just getting to the point where Ari will sleep through the night. We have been there for her, reassured her through all the abandonment issues that Marlena warned us about, and now we're going to tell her that she's going to have a little brother or sister?"

"Brother," Will said, "and we will love her just as much and we will make sure that she doesn't feel neglected. Parents have second kids all the time, Sonny, we can't put this off because we're scared of how Ari will react."

"You forget that I have two older brothers. I know how it feels to be the new kid."

"And you forget that I have four younger siblings, I know how it feels to be that sibling, how protective you feel of them."

"Slight age gap between you and Johnny though."

"Which I'm not having for Ari. I want our kids to grow up together. Please. Let's do this. Let's start looking now."

Sonny sighed, looking down at their joined hands in the middle of the table. He ran his thumb tip over the heel of Will's hand, stroking gently down Will's own thumb.

"I just don't want you to be disappointed," he said.

"Why would I be?"

"Because you know that we could have a girl. And for the record I would be OK with that."

Will's face broke into the kind of grin that Sonny would sell his soul to see every day for the rest of their lives together.

"I don't care who they are or who they turn out to be," Will said, "so long as they're ours."

"Then let's do this."

~~

"Do you think this is what your mom thought we would be doing tonight?" Will asked as he typed away at the laptop.

"I think Mom probably tried not to think about us tonight," Sonny laughed, placing one hand on Will's shoulder as he looked at the screen.

"Still. She was right. We needed this."

"What? To Google surrogacy?"

"To talk. To just be us. You and me. I can't remember the last time it was just you and me."

"Well we have a daughter," Sonny said, turning his head a little to press a kiss to Will's temple, "so you and me is automatically you and me and her."

"So we've never really had that time."

"Hey, I wouldn't change it for the world, you know that, right?"

"Me either," Will said, turning his head to meet Sonny's kiss. "I can't lose you, you know that don't you?"

"Will, take a look at what we're doing right now. We are planning to have another child together so I think this is as far from 'losing me' as it gets."

"Yeah, but you hear about couples having kids to try and fix their marriage and—"

"OK stop," Sonny said, moving to perch on the edge of the desk so he could look at Will. "That is not what we are doing. We have talked about having this kid for years, since Ari was in the hospital. We have wanted this for years and we just kept putting it off because our lives were all over the place. And I know we're not exactly settled but it's getting there and this? This will help show Ari that her home and her family are stable and secure and we're not going anywhere."

"But—"

"But nothing, OK?" he said. "We are going to be OK, Will. I promise. No more secrets, no more big dramas—"

"You can't promise me that," Will laughed. "Actually, you can't promise me either of those things but I love you for doing it."

"No, I mean it. No more secrets—"

"You kept it from me to protect me and I know that. I was angry at you and I forgot that you have only ever had my best interests at heart. This wasn't about keeping something from me to protect me, this was about protecting our family. I promise to remember that next time I wonder why you're doing something."

"Really?"

"Really. I know you, Son. I know that you would never decide on anything that would hurt our family; exactly the opposite in fact. So my promise to you is to remember that, especially when I don't agree with you."

"Even if it's hard to understand why?"

"Even if it's impossible." Will reached out and put his hand on Sonny's thigh. "Because I trust you. Completely."

"You know it wasn't easy, keeping it from you. Every day I wanted to tell you but I had to stop myself, remind myself that telling you would just make it worse. That you'd be caught up in a situation where the mother of your child would be forever altered.

"And I couldn't do that to you. I loved you too much then and I love you more now. There was nothing you could do to change it, nothing any of us could do. So you and Ari? You had to come first. I would do anything to protect you. This, us, our family? It's more important to me than anything in the world."

"I know. And for the record? You're the same to us."

"Good," Sonny grinned before leaning forward for a kiss. "Now. How about we have a look and see what we need to do to bring our—"

"Son," Will cut in with a grin.

"—home," Sonny finished with a soft laugh.

~~

Most of the research was simple enough, finding a local surrogacy clinic that not only helped same-sex couples but came with glowing testimonials about how supportive they were. Sonny left Will to browse the information while he grabbed some drinks.

"Hey, Son," Will called over to him, "how well are the clubs doing at the moment?"

"Pretty well," Sonny replied, grabbing two water bottles. "I mean, really well when you think about it."

"A hundred grand really well?" Will asked, his voice dejected.

"Are you kidding me?"

"I wish. I mean, that's the average cost, what with the egg donor, the screening processes, and the surrogacy fees and tests and are you sure you don't have an ex-girlfriend you could knock up?"

Sonny crossed back over to him, reading the information for himself. "That's a lot of money."

"Money we don't have."

"Bank?"

"Unless you're suggesting robbing one..."

"We could get a loan. Use the clubsa as collateral—"

"No," Will said firmly. "We can't pour everything into something that might not work and spend the rest of our lives paying off the debt."

"Any suggestions then?"

"I suppose I could ask—"

"Don't even finish that sentence," Sonny said firmly. "We are not going to our families."

"I don't know if you noticed this, Son, but our families? They're pretty well off. And we would be providing them with another grandchild."

"You don't want to be in debt to a bank for the rest of our lives but you're happy to be beholden to our families?"

"Son—"

"No, I can't do that. My whole life I have stood on my own two feet, worked for everything that I have. I'm not about to change that now."

"Not even for a child?"

"Will, I can't. Look, we'll find the money, I promise. It's not as if we were going to start this process tomorrow was it?"

"I guess..." Will's shoulders sagged as the vivid idea of seeing their son in Sonny's arms seemed to blur a little in his mind.

"Hey," Sonny said, hooking a finger under Will's chin and making him look up at him. "I promise you that this is going to happen. One day you and I will be standing here with our son."

"I just... I really want this, Sonny. I love our family so much but there's a part of me," he said, his hand moving instinctively to his chest, "that is craving this. I want to see you holding a baby in your arms and I want you to have your child and—"

"Is this about me not being Ari's biological father? Because if it is then you know that I love her like she's mine and—"

"It's not that, well, maybe that's a _tiny_ part of it," Will said. "But it's more about _you_. The whole thing about finding that someone to spend your forever with is that when you have them? You want to build a life with them, create life with them. And if we were a straight couple then we'd do that, show that love, build on that love by having children together. You and me in one person. But that's not an option for us. And we have Arianna, who we both love and she is our daughter and she calls us both daddy.

"But to have another child? One that we can see you in?"

"I don't need that," Sonny said.

"But we want it. We both want it and one of us has to be the donor and if it's you then we really are in this together."

"Where's this coming from?"

"When we got back together, after you knew about Gabi and Ari, your mom—"

"Will!"

"No, listen to me," Will said, putting his hands over Sonny's, "she was right. That's how it looked. You were 'taking on' me and my daughter and we didn't look like a family."

"I don't care how things look. I care how they are."

"Are you going to keep interrupting me or are you going to let me talk?" Will laughed. "This isn't about now, or then even. This is a thought that I have had for a really long time. When your mom first said about you taking on me and my daughter I just thought that one day she'd be holding _your_ child and she would know that it wasn't about taking on anything, it would be that we were a family who loved each other and blood didn't matter. What mattered would be this," he said, putting his hand over Sonny's heart. "Every beat of mine is for you and Ari and for this baby that has been in the back of my mind since Ari was born. And whenever I thought about you and me having another child together? It was always you."

"Will," Sonny breathed.

"I love you, and I want this baby with you more than I know how to put into words."

"I might not have the same idea as you in my head," Sonny laughed, taking Will's hand from his chest and holding it tightly, "but you know I want this too, right?"

"I know."

"Which is why we will figure out a way to make it happen. I promise you. Even if I have to sell a couple of the clubs I'll do it."

"Can we call that option B?" Will asked. "Maybe we'll win the lottery or something."

"Buy a ticket tomorrow?"

"Yeah," Will sighed, reaching out with his free hand to close the lid on the laptop. "So... what now?"

"Well, Ari's not coming home until after breakfast, so how about you and I... maybe practice for this baby?"

"Pra—" Will started, cutting himself off with a laugh. "You paid attention in biology, right?"

"Maybe not as much as I should have," Sonny laughed, leaning forward to kiss Will, "but there's always something to be said for trying."

"I'm all for trying," Will muttered between kisses, pulling himself up out of the chair so he was standing in front of Sonny. "Trying is great fun."

"We can try all night," Sonny grinned, his hands holding Will firm by the waist.

"Promise me that even when the baby's here we'll make the grandparents do overnight sitting at least once a month," Will said as Sonny stood, already pushing him back towards the bedroom.

"Week," Sonny corrected.

"Two," Will compromised. "Can't be too greedy."

"Done," Sonny whispered as his mouth latched onto Will's neck and then they were done with conversation.

~~

"Do we not even rate a hello now?"

Will half-turned to see Abby and JJ sat at one of the nearby tables. He gestured to their coffees and laughed. "Big night?"

"Well not for me," Abby said pointedly, turning to look at JJ.

"Really?" he sighed. "Are you going to stop bringing it up any time soon?"

"Bringing what up?" Will asked.

"JJ had a date last night." Abby grinned.

"OK."

"His fifth in two weeks. With the same girl."

"Oh, now this is interesting," Will said, pulling up a chair to join them. "Name?"

"He won't say," Abby answered for him.

"Two reasons," JJ cut across before she could say anything else. "One, it's still early days—"

"Five dates in two weeks though," Will said. "I don't think Sonny and I had that many."

"No, you just had one long date," Abby pointed out, "because you two were just attached to each other the whole time."

"Thanks," Will said, his voice clipped but teasing.

"And two," JJ continued, "I am not having my well-meaning but ultimately intrusive family tracking her down before we're ready to go public."

"Go public?" Abby asked. "You're making it sound like there's something to hide."

"And I know why," Will said, reaching over and putting a comforting hand on JJ's arm. "It's OK. We're your family and we love you. You can tell us that she's not real; we won't judge you."

"No, but I'll hit you," JJ teased as Abby burst into giggles. "Family or not."

"So why all the secrecy?"

"It's... complicated, OK? Look, if everything keeps going well then we'll do the intros and you'll understand why then. Until that point? I'm just asking for a little privacy and respect, which my dear sister seems incapable of giving me."

"I just want to make sure that this woman is suitable and deserving of you," she said. "And I don't want to see you get hurt. You deserve to be happy and I'd like to—"

"What? Make sure that she'll do that? Have a say on whether she's right for me? Hey Will, remind me, how'd that go down with you and Sonny when Aunt Adrienne weighed in?"

"I am nothing like that!" Abby protested, but still slumped in her chair in resignation. "Honestly, you're acting like there's something untoward going on, like she's married or something." She caught the fleeting look on her brother's face and she sat back up. "Oh my god, she's married."

"No, not married," JJ said. "I said complicated, not going to get my face smashed in by an angry husband."

"JJ—"

"Leave it, Abby," he snapped. "You'll understand when you meet her but for now I just need you to... to trust me. Please? I really like her and I don't want to mess it up by—"

"Throwing our family into the mix?" Will finished. "Good call."

"Exactly."

"OK, fine," Abby sighed, holding her hands up in mock surrender. "I'll leave it. For now," she added. "At least it gives me hope; if you can find someone then anyone can."

Their banter was interrupted by the bar manager handing books over to Will.

"Those the accounts?" Abby asked. "I thought Sonny let Chris do them."

"He does," Will said, nodding his thanks to Chris, "we just need to get the most accurate and up-to-date figures for something."

Abby's attention moved from her brother to her cousin as she sensed a new revelation brewing. "What for?" she asked. "I swear everyone's got something going on in their life except me."

"You guys finally buying a house or something?" JJ asked. 

"Something," Will smiled. "Just need to see how much we could raise if we wanted to."

"You got something in mind?" Abby asked. "A house maybe? With a garden for Ari?"

"Next thing you know they'll have a dog and be all settled like a real family," JJ laughed.

"We are a real family, thank you very much," Will said in mock indignation, "and it's not for a house or a dog so you can stop right there."

"So what then? It can't be another club already," JJ pointed out.

"Is everything OK?" Abby asked. "I mean, if there's anything we can do to help you know you just have to ask."

"Well, unless you have a hundred grand lying around—" Will said before he could stop himself.

"A hun-hundred grand?" Abby spluttered. "Are you buying a mansion instead of a house?"

"I said it wasn't for a house or anything else of that kind," Will scrambled, but he knew that the damage was done and he sighed. "You cannot breathe a word of this to anyone, OK? Promise me."

Abby and JJ nodded, the former drawing a cross over her heart.

"We're... we're looking into surrogacy. But it's still early and still just an idea," he said quickly over Abby's excited squeal, "and unless we figure out how to raise the money it'll stay an idea."

"That's really what it costs?" JJ asked. "A hundred grand?"

"On average, yeah."

JJ gave a low whistle. "Way to make it easy for people to have kids." He dug his hand into his jeans pocket and pulled out a crumpled bill, dropping it in front of Will. "A donation. To get you started."

"Thanks," Will quipped. "Only what? Nine, nine, nine, nine, nine... lots left to go?"

"Have you asked your families?" Abby enquired. "I mean, the Kiriakis and DiMeras aren't short of—"

"Not an option," Will said firmly. "They're slightly over-invested grandparents to Ari already, imagine if they had a financial stake in the next one? We'd never have any peace."

"He has a point, Abs. Aunt Adrienne can be... overbearing at times as well we all know."

"You know that's his mother-in-law you're talking about?" Abby said.

"And accurately," Will laughed. "Plus we know Mom's not much better. No, Sonny and I are doing this ourselves. Somehow."

"Well we'll keep our fingers crossed for you," Abby said. "And if I happen to win the lottery..."

"Oh, Sonny's buying the winning ticket before he collects Ari from his parents'," Will said, "but any other prize money donations will be gratefully accepted on understanding that you have zero say in how we raise the child, and cannot say a word about this to anyone." He palmed the five dollar bill. "Not one word."

"My silence is easily bought," JJ said. When Will held out the five dollars to him he laughed and shook his head. "No, it's simple. You two stay off my case about my mystery girlfriend, I'll say nothing to anyone about you-know-what. Deal?"

"Deal," Will said.

"Abs?"

"That is so not fair," she protested.

"Think of it this way, sis. You're just protecting our two favourite cousins from their respective interfering mothers."

"Fine," she agreed, folding her arms in sulk.

"Well I'd better get home and rescue Sonny from whatever complaints Ari has about Grandmother Adrienne," Will said as he got to his feet. "Remember: not a word to anyone."

Once Will had gone, JJ tilted his head a little to the left and watched his sister quizzically. "OK, what are you planning?"

"I don't know what you mean."

"I know that look, you're planning something. Abigail—"

"You were right, they're our favourite cousins. I love them both and I want them to be happy. They deserve to be happy after everything that Gabi put them through."

"Well let's hope they either win the lottery or raise the money then," JJ said. "Either that, or some rich relative kicks the bucket and leaves them their entire fortune."

Abby said nothing more on the subject, just took a contemplative sip of her coffee.

~~

As EJ folded over his paper, Abby took a deep breath and reminded herself that sometimes you had to break promises for the greater good.

"This is a surprise, Abigail. To what do we owe the honour?"

"When Chad was... when he left you said that if there was anything you could do..."

"That was a long time ago."

"Well, I was hoping that the sentiment, the generosity was still there. And it's not for me, not really. It's for Will."

"William?"

"What about Will?" Sami asked as she walked into the room.

"He... he needs help," Abby said.

"And he knows that all he has to do is ask," EJ said. "He is family after all and we take care of our own."

"That's the thing," Abby said, "he knows it but he won't ask because he and Sonny want to do this themselves which I understand but I don't think they'll be able to do it any time soon, short of winning the lottery at any rate."

"The lottery?" Sami asked. "This is about money?"

"Well, it's partly about the money," Abby said. "See, Will made me promise not to tell anyone and he said that he didn't want to ask you – or anyone on the Kiriakis side – because he was worried that the money would come with... strings."

"How much money are we talking about?" EJ asked.

Abby paused before saying quietly, "About a hundred thousand dollars."

"He's right, there would be strings for that amount," EJ said.

"What do they need a hundred grand for?" Sami asked. "Are they in some kind of trouble? I swear if Gabi's planning on an appeal or something then there is no way I'm helping them to fund it—"

"It's not about Gabi," Abby said. "This is very much about them and their family."

"So why do they need such a large sum of money?" EJ asked.

"Because..." Abby let her eyes drift close so she wouldn't have to see herself betraying a confidence, even if it was for all the right reasons. "Because apparently that's the going rate for surrogacy."

"Surrogacy?" Sami whispered.

"Yeah. They want to have another baby."

~~

"From JJ," Will said, holding up the five dollars. "A donation to our fund."

"Which means he knows," Sonny said as he helped Ari out of her coat. "And how does he know?"

"Know what, Daddy?" Ari asked.

"You remember what we said about secrets and private stuff?" Sonny asked.

" _Never from each other, but try to keep_ ," she parroted.

"Good girl. Well, Daddy and I had a secret, but it sounds like he's told cousin JJ."

"And Abigail," Will admitted. "But they won't say anything, they promised."

"You weren't supposed to say anything! Neither of us were."

"What secret, Daddy? Not from each other, 'member?"

"Well, Sonny began, hauling her up onto his knee. "How would you feel about maybe having... a baby brother or sister?"

"Now?"

"Not right now," Sonny laughed. "But daddy and I are looking into maybe having a baby, and how we could do that."

"It might not happen for a while yet, Ari," Will said, moving to sit with them on the couch.

"Will it take a long time to find a mommy?" she asked.

"Maybe," Sonny said, running a hand over her dark hair. "And it might not happen at all. But what do you think about the idea?"

Ari pursed her lips, bringing her right hand to her face and tapping her index finger against her cheek in a show of giving it serious thought. "OK," she decided on eventually. "Would the mommy live here too?"

"No, sweetpea, just the baby," Sonny said.

"In my room?"

"Well, we'd have to move to a bigger place so you two could have your own room."

"A house?" Ari asked excitedly. "A house with stairs and a garden and a dog?"

Will laughed, remembering JJ's comment. "Is that what you want?"

Ari nodded enthusiastically. "Please!"

"So we're agreed?" Sonny asked. "A baby and a house and a garden and a dog?"

"I think that's a plan," Will grinned.

Ari immediately stuck out her hand, her fingers curled into her palm with the exception of her pinky. "Come on Daddies," she said. "It's tradi—trash—"

"Tradition?" Will prompted.

"Yeah."

"Make a plan, make a pinky swear," Sonny chimed in. He hooked his little finger around Ari's, leaving no space for Will.

"Come on, Daddy," Ari protested, sticking her lower lip out.

Laughing, Will hooked his finger around those of his family. "A baby, a house, a garden, a dog. Let's do this."

~~

Will laughed softly as Sonny threw back the covers and extended an arm to him. "You're being overly romantic tonight," he said as he climbed in and allowed himself to be pulled against his husband's body. "Not that I'm complaining."

"Sounds like you are," Sonny said, kissing Will's temple. "Besides, I have good reason to be romantic."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah. Look at my life. I have an amazing husband, we have a beautiful daughter, and who knows? Maybe one day we'll have another baby keeping us up all night, spitting up on everything in sight, pulling everything that's not tied down onto them and remind me why we thought this would be a good idea?" he laughed. "My life is good. It's great."

"I know what you're doing."

"Go on, then what am I doing?"

"Being cautious. You know as well as I do that we're going to struggle to raise the money without selling a couple of the clubs—"

"I told you that it's an option I'm willing to explore—"

"So unless we do some major financial reshuffling? The chances of us having that baby?"

"It's going to happen for us, Will. I promised you."

"You also promised me that things would be OK and since that promise our daughter got sick, you nearly died saving her—"

"Overstatement!"

"—and just when we catch our breath Gabi goes to jail and I, once again, nearly lose you—"

"Again with the overstating!"

"—and my point is that things haven't been the OK that you promised. But that's OK because I know that you will do anything for us and you'll try everything you can to make it happen. If we can make this baby, if we can do it? Then I know we will."

"Ari seems excited about being a big sister."

"Wonder if she'll let us remind her of this when she gets new baby syndrome?" Will laughed.

"Did you have that?"

"I was pretty much a teenager when Johnny was born," Will pointed out.

"That didn't answer my question."

"I don't know," Will said, his fingers tracing idly along Sonny's arm, wrapped around him. "We both know my teenage years weren't exactly rife with normality and rationed thought. I have no idea what was teenage stuff or my parents or—"

"New baby syndrome," Sonny said, kissing the top of Will's head. "Sorry."

"It wasn't your fault."

"I know. Still sorry though."

"I know." Will linked his fingers with Sonny's. "I know we've talked about... us having a baby. But if it doesn't happen... will there be a Plan B?"

"Adoption?"

"If you wanted that is, I mean I know it's not for everyone, I know you want... but if we—"

"Hey, hey, hey," Sonny said quickly, pulling on his arm sharply so Will was no longer laying on it. He moved half atop Will, looking fondly down on him. "Don't do that. Don't go there. You and me? We want this. We want to expand our family and we want to raise another child. So that's what we're going to do."

"Even if we can't—"

Sonny silenced him with a kiss. "We're doing this."

"OK," Will whispered before looping his arm around Sonny's neck and holding him in place.

~~

"Are you sure this'll work?" Sami asked EJ for what seemed like the twentieth time since they left the car.

"That depends how clued in your son is to your family tree," he said.

"It's not going to seem weird, is it?"

"What? A few days after he admits that they need money we turn up with—"

"OK, OK, this was a stupid idea."

"Come on, we're here now and we can but try." He put his hands on her shoulders and turned her back towards the door. "Just knock and try to act like someone died."

"That's probably the weirdest advice you've given me," she said, knocking on the door and trying to look suitably sad for when Sonny opened the door. "Hey," she said.

"Hi," Sonny replied, looking from one to the other. "What's up?"

"Will home?" Sami asked as Sonny stepped aside to let them in. He gestured towards the kitchen where Will was drying his hands.

"What's up?" Will asked. "Everything OK?"

"Yes. And no."

"OK, so that was clear," Will laughed.

"It's one of those bad news, good news situations," Sami said. "Do you remember your Great Uncle Elliot?"

"Um, vaguely," Will laughed. "I think I met him once when I was in Switzerland," he said to Sonny.

"Well he died," Sami said bluntly.

"O...K..."

"Yeah, I know, barely remember the guy. But he remembered you."

"Mom, what's going on?"

"Maybe this will help," EJ said, reaching into his jacket pocket and pulling out an envelope. He handed it to Will and watched as he opened it. "Like your mother said, he remembered you."

"Is this for real?" Will asked before handing it over to Sonny.

"The lawyers called yesterday," Sami said, "but we wanted to wait until the check arrived."

"This isn't a check, this is... insane," Sonny said, staring at the amount on it. "There has to be an extra number on this or something."

"Nope. A little over a hundred thousand, all yours," Sami said. "Bad news, good news."

"This isn't good news, Mom," Will grinned, "this is... I mean, not that I'm happy Elliot is dead, but this... this is..." He trailed off, looking from the check in Sonny's hand to his mother. Then he shook his head. "This is perfect timing."

"Oh?" Sami feigned. "For what?"

"Mom."

"What?" she asked. "Perfect timing for what?"

"What's going on?" Sonny asked.

"How much is that check for?" Will asked.

"Just over a hundred thousand dollars."

"No. Exactly," Will said, not taking his eyes off Sami. "In figures."

It was clear from Sonny's tone that he was confused, but he read out, "One, one, one, six, nine, five."

"Or eleven, sixteen, ninety-five?" Will asked. For a second there was a flash of a familiar guilty look across Sami's face. "My birthday?"

"Oh yeah," Sonny laughed.

Not taking his eyes off his mother, Will smiled. "Guess Uncle Elliot remembered a lot, huh?"

Sami looked up at him, the guilt gone and nothing but love was left in her face. "I guess so."

"Thank you," Will said quietly and heartfelt. "This... this means more than you know."

"I think I do," she whispered in response before crossing the room to hug him.

"Did I miss something?" Sonny asked EJ, who just smiled and dropped his head. "I missed something, didn't I?"

"Well, now that we've done what we came to do we shall leave you to... plan how you're going to spend that money," EJ said, reaching out to extract Sami from her son's grasp. "Am sure you have many ideas on what you can do with it."

"Oh, one or two," Will grinned.

"Then we shall leave you to your planning and hope to hear all about it," he continued, pointedly steering Sami towards the door. "When the time is right, of course."

"Of course," Will said, moving next to Sonny and slipping his arm around his waist.

"I really have missed something here," Sonny complained as EJ and Sami left. "There's more to this than some great uncle who left you a birthday style inheritance check that more than covers the surrogacy costs, isn't there?"

"Yeah, there is," Will said, nuzzling against the side of Sonny's neck. "Sometimes... sometimes I forget that my family can do good things."

"You think?" Sonny laughed, turning so he was in front of Will. "This isn't good, this is... this is your mom and EJ's doing, isn't it? Your birthday on a check turning up when we need it the most and they know, don't they?"

"Guess they do."

"Will..."

"I know we said we'd do this ourselves, and I know we said we'd not ask for help... We didn't ask. This hasn't come from them. Not if we don't want it to be."

"Do you even have a great uncle Elliot?"

"Yeah, I do. Nice guy, did meet him once, but he died about three years ago."

"Oh!" Sonny laughed.

"Yeah, guess it was the best cover story Mom could come up with that didn't involve pretending someone was dead. Which, I guess is a step up for her." He looked at Sonny and took a deep breath. "We don't have to accept it, you know. I mean, we can hand it back if you really don't want to accept money from them."

"Do you want to hand it back?" Sonny asked.

"If you'd said that to me an hour ago, I would have said yes. But now that we have the check... We could do this, Sonny. We can look into surrogacy and we can have our baby and—"

"And your mom is no more involved in their life than she is in Arianna's, understood?" Sonny warned playfully. "Well, I mean..." he then tried to correct when he realised what their relationship was actually like. "You know what I mean!" 

"I know, I know," Will said, kissing Sonny gently. "Would you hate me if I said I wanted to keep the check?"

"I could never hate you," Sonny muttered around the kisses. "Well, except if you try to take this check from me and give it back. Then I might be persuaded to dislike you a little."

"Oh god," Will laughed as he pulled Sonny into a hug. "We're actually going to do this. We're going to have a baby."

Sonny laughed into the curve of Will's neck, half pulling him down into a mass of limbs on the couch, his hand closed tightly around the check that was the start of all their hopes and dreams.

~~

Life moved on.

For months it was meetings upon meetings and meetings about meetings. Arianna, impatient for her baby brother, stomped her foot at one meeting and wanted to know when they would find the right mommy. While Howard tried to maintain his professionalism their attention was drawn by a woman just outside the office, who gave a short laugh at Ari's outburst.

"I want my brother," Ari declared, just before a brunette's head stuck around the door frame.

"A brother, huh?" she asked.

"Yeah. Papa and Daddy want a boy," she said.

"Daddy wants a boy," Sonny clarified, "Papa doesn't care."

"I do," Arianna said. "I want a brother."

"Boys are good fun," the brunette said, "especially when they're your little brother. But you know what? Sisters can be just as much fun."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah. When you get older you can swap clothes and talking about boys," she said, before flicking her eyes up at Arianna's parents, "or girls or whoever. Sisters can become your bestest friends."

"I have a bestest friend," Arianna said. "We go to playgroup."

"Well then I guess you'd have two bestest friends," she said, dropping to her knees in front of Arianna. "But you gotta wait, sweetpea. Your daddies need to make sure that they find just the right mommy."

"Are you a mommy?" Arianna asked.

"Ari!" Will said, reaching out to pull her back, the apology already on his lips.

"I am," she said. "I have a little girl, Lily, she's a bit younger than you."

"But are you a mommy for here too?" Arianna asked.

"I... well, maybe," she said. "I'm new here."

"I'm new here too. They don't bring me but Grammi Sami couldn't look after me today. None of them could. I have lots of grannies."

"I bet you do, sweet girl like you."

"I have my mommy's family and my daddy's family and papa's family. They say I'm a lucky girl to have all these people."

"Wow, you really are. And you're going to have a baby brother?"

"Or sister," Arianna said, prompting a smile on the woman's face. "But I'm going to be the boss."

"You're the oldest, of course you will be."

"I like her," Arianna said, turning back to her dads. "Can she be our mommy?"

"I..." the woman started, getting to her feet and looking first at Will and Sonny, then over at Howard. "I'm sorry, I just heard her and I shouldn't have barged in like that and now I've probably messed things up and I should just go and—"

"I'm Sonny, this is my husband Will," Sonny said, holding out a hand to her. "You've already met our daughter, Arianna." At that Ari looked up at her and gave a little wave.

"Olivia," the woman said, shaking Sonny's hand. "And I'm sorry to have barged in on your meeting—"

"I like her, Papa," Arianna declared.

"I like her too, sweetpea," Sonny smiled down at her.

"She called me that too."

"I noticed."

"Olivia's new to the family," Howard started, "she's only completed a few of the screening processes—"

"How long until she's done?" Will asked.

"Normally it takes a few weeks, but—"

"A few weeks to get to know each other?" Will cut across, turning back to Olivia. "Sounds like a plan to me."

"I wasn't... that wasn't why I came in here," Olivia protested.

"We know," Sonny said, moving aside and gesturing to one of the chairs, "but you're here now and you have Arianna's attention—"

"Which trust me is hard to keep," Will laughed.

"—and she likes you which is even harder," Sonny finished. "So nothing wrong in having a chat?"

"Please?" Arianna said, looking up at Olivia with bright blue eyes. "You can be our mommy."

"I can't promise anything," Olivia said, "but maybe your daddies and I can talk about it?"

"This isn't how things are normally done," Howard sighed.

"Arianna has decided," Will said, pulling her up onto his lap, "we find it easier to just go along with it after that."

After a moment's hesitation, Olivia sat in the offered seat. "So... what do you want to know?" she asked.

~~

After ordering her drink Olivia placed her file on the table and stared at it nervously. There was a large part of her that wanted to run; after the initial meeting things had moved very quickly and she found herself on the fast track through counselling sessions and meetings with doctors. Now everything was in that folder and she wondered, not for the first time, if this was all a little too much too soon.

"Penny for them?" the woman asked as she brought the drink over.

"Oh? Oh, nothing, just thinking," Olivia said.

"Sounds serious."

"It is. Am about to make a really, really big decision."

"And you're not sure if it's the right one?"

"No, I am. I'd be helping out some amazing people and doing something... so, so big for them. And I want to do it, I really do, it's just—"

"And what about you, sweetheart?" the woman asked. "What do you get out of it?"

"Plenty," Olivia said. "It's just... a really big commitment."

"One that you're not ready for?"

"One that I think I'm ready for. Just not sure what others would say."

"Well, to be a little blunt about it, does it matter what they think?"

"It should," Olivia said. "Especially when I think that they're—"

"Hey, Grandma," someone interrupted, and Olivia turned in her seat to see Will greeting the old woman with a kiss on the cheek. "I see you've met Olivia. Olivia, this is my great-grandmother Caroline. She also happens to own this pub," he laughed.

"Oh, you're a friend of my great-grandson? You know he's married, right? You're a little late for that. Well, quite a bit late really because—"

"OK, enough, Grandma," Will laughed. 

"I'll leave you two to talk," she said, "and it was lovely to meet you, Olivia."

"You too," she said. Once Caroline had gone and Will had taken a seat she slid her file across the table. "The reports. Your copy. Yours and Sonny's. Everything's in there."

"Thanks," Will said. "You OK? Grandma Caroline didn't anything weird to you did she?"

"No, she's wonderful. Really helped me to think about a few things."

"Everything OK?" Will asked. "You're not having, oh god, you're having second thoughts aren't you? You're backing out."

"What?"

"Please. Olivia. Can we talk about it?"

"Will—"

"I know that it's your decision and you've got every right to say no and not get involved in this, but if you could just see Sonny... This whole thing has been really tough on him, and I know that he'd be happy if it was just us and Arianna for the rest of our lives, but he does want this baby. I know he does. This isn't about us making anything perfect or fixing anything. We just want another child. And we are hoping that you can help us with that.

"So many times over this I've watched him... We could have easily given up but I'm glad we didn't."

"Will, I'm not backing out," Olivia laughed. "Everything came back good. All medical tests, psyche reports, the works."

"Wow," Will said, opening the file for a second before shutting it again. "Um... can we just forget that I said any of that?"

"It's fine, you're worried," Olivia said. "I get it."

"Thank you. I mean it. Thank you."

"It's nothing."

"No, it's _everything_. Really. You're giving us something that we have wanted since Arianna was a baby. And thank you doesn't seem enough for that."

"Really, Will, it's fine," she said, reaching across the table to him. "Do you know why I signed up to be a surrogate?"

"I... didn't want to ask," he laughed. "It's a bit personal, isn't it?"

"I think we've hit the stage where it's OK to ask." She ran a finger around the rim of her glass. "Lily, that's my little girl, she's... she's everything to me. Never planned on having a child, just one day found myself in hospital getting a blood test and being told that she's on her way.

"Anyway, Lil's dad and I... we got on with it. We didn't plan on it and we hadn't even thought about whether or not we'd last the distance. But we did the best for our little girl and she... she is the best thing I have ever done. The best thing I will ever do with my life."

"If you're about to say that you want to help other couples have that then I have to say, I'll be a little disappointed," Will said.

"It's more than that," Olivia said. "I didn't plan on Lily but she's here all the same. I'm still her mom, no matter what. And there are so many people out there who want babies, who want to be parents and for one reason or another they just can't be. And I think that's unfair.

"Look at you and Sonny. You two are the forever deal. You guys really love each other, and you two are amazing with Arianna and she's a real credit to you both. When I heard about... well, her mom? I realised just how amazing you guys really are. She's adorable and charming and if I can help you two out?"

"This is more than just helping out," Will said, his hand resting on the folder. "This is... we're kinda taking over your body for the best part of a year!"

"We can think about it as storage if that would make you feel better?" she joked.

"Strangely enough, no," Will laughed. "You didn't need to bring these over yourself you know."

"I know, but I had to come over here for a lunch date anyway so it just seemed easier, and I know you need those for the clinic."

"So did they give you any idea when we might start... moving things on?"

"Depends when you and Sonny are good to go," she said. "I need to wait at least a month first, but really it's down to you two. Give Howard a ring and he'll set everything up for you."

"If there's anything that we can do for you," Will said as she made to get up, "then ask. Please. We... we seriously owe you for this."

"You know as well as I do that our contract benefits me just as much," she grinned.

"You know I'm not talking about the contract."

"I know, and you know that sort of thing is illegal," she teased. "But the sentiment is appreciated. And I promise I'll let you know." Her phone began to ring in her bag and she fished it out, smiling when she saw the display. "Hey, you," she answered. "No, I'm just finishing up now... The Town Square? Yeah, I think I'm near there..." She looked over at Will who nodded and gestured the direction she should go in. "Apparently I am, I'll be there in a few minutes. Yeah, you too... bye. Sorry," she added when she hung up.

"Don't apologise, Sonny and I are still like that after all these years together. If you and Lily's dad are then who am I to hold you up?"

Olivia looked down for a moment, fussing with the strap on her bag. "Yeah, well... call me and let me know when you and Sonny want to go ahead, OK?"

"Yeah, OK," Will said, suddenly aware that he'd said something wrong but not sure what it was. "Everything--?"

"I'll speak to you later," she said before leaving.

"Everything alright, darling?" Caroline said as she came over. "Friend of yours?"

"Something like that," Will said.

"Sounds interesting."

"It is," he smiled, "and I promise you'll be among the first to hear as soon as we can tell you."

~~

Will slipped into the empty seat, leaning over to kiss Sonny's cheek in greeting, before turning to his cousins. "I've missed something, haven't I?"

"Just my brother _continuing_ to be secretive about his mystery woman," Abby teased.

"Still?" Will asked. "OK, what's going on?"

JJ sighed. "I told you, it's—" 

"Complicated? Like she's married complicated?" Sonny asked.

"No. No marriage, no partner, no cheating. I'm not..." he started, then stopped himself.

"My mother?" Will finished. "Well it's true."

"Yeah. Well. She's single now and that's—"

"Now?" Will picked up on. "Meaning she wasn't before?"

JJ's face dropped as he tried to cover his mistake. "Well, neither was I and—"

" _Was_ she married?" Will asked. "I mean, it hardly matters if she was. Having a past isn't the end of the world."

"She wasn't married," JJ said, "but... she has a kid, OK? She has a kid and that's why it's complicated."

"OK," Sonny said, accepting it as a matter of fact.

"That's it? 'OK'? I thought..."

"What? That we'd have a problem with it?" Sonny gestured towards Will. "You realise that I was in a similar situation with Will, right? He had Arianna and we still were together, stayed together."

"With lots of family support," JJ quipped.

"Things are different now," Sonny continued. "The only thing that matters is what you plan to do."

"What do you mean?"

Under the table Sonny's hand found Will's and gave it a squeeze. "When I found out about Arianna? It was hard and yeah, it came between us for a while. And it gave me time to think about it, about us and what having a child would mean for, well... me. Because I knew that if I was going to be with Will then it had to be long-term. You can't mess about when there's a kid involved. I'm not saying that you have to spend the rest of your life with her but—"

"But it's complicated," JJ finished. "I really like her, and I've met her kid a few times, but until we figure out what we're doing then—"

"Why didn't you just tell us?" Abby asked. "Be a little hypocritical of me to have a problem with you seeing a woman who has a kid when all those years ago I was encouraging Sonny to patch things up with Will."

"What?"

"If you're happy then I'm happy. Really."

"You're still not meeting her," JJ said, grinning when her face fell. "Not until we're sure."

"Fine," she sulked.

"How about we change the subject?" Sonny offered. "We have baby news."

"Is she pregnant already?" Abby asked excitedly, her brother momentarily forgotten.

"Not yet, but we got our clinic date through. Early next week."

"And that's when you...?" JJ made a slight gesture, possibly rude, and then shook his head. "You know what I mean."

"Well, we have... _I_ have my appointment on Monday," Sonny laughed, "then we're meeting at the clinic on Tuesday."

"That's gotta be weird," JJ declared, "going into a room somewhere and just..." There was the hand gesture again and this time Abby gave him a gentle smack on the arm. "I just wouldn't want that pressure."

"I'll be fine," Sonny laughed.

"OK, this conversation is stopping right here before I hear things that I never ever wanted to know about my cousin," Abby declared, holding her hands up. "I need a drink," she muttered, pushing back her chair and leaving them to their childish giggles.

~~

Will flicked through the standard waiting room magazine, filled cover to cover with airbrushed pictures and exclusive features on minor celebrities. There was nothing to interest him or distract him so he discarded it onto the pile of previously discarded magazines. The weekend had passed in a blur, with little to distract them from their appointment. (JJ had provided some minor interest; his date with his mystery momma had involved him fending off muggers, but all he had to show for his heroics was a split lip and little else.)

Will glanced at the clock; Sonny had been in there for almost ten minutes now. They'd laughed about the fact that the clinic clearly catered to all tastes as among the provided stimulus materials were a few muscle magazines. Of course the nurse just gave a polite smile before giving Sonny the cup and ushering Will out, telling him to leave his husband in peace so that he can 'get down to business'.

His mind started to wander to images of that 'business' but those thoughts were interrupted by the door opening.

"This is stupid," Sonny muttered, peering though the gap. 

"Do you... need a hand?" Will said suggestively.

"That nurse isn't about is she? I think she'd object."

"No, she's not," Will said as he got up out of his seat. He was into the room, door shut behind him, and pulling Sonny in for a kiss before he had a chance to change his mind.

"Just don't... waste any," Sonny managed to laugh as Will dropped to his knees in front of Sonny, hands undoing the pants button. 

"Well if I get some warning..." Will grinned.

~~

There was no denying that Will was _very_ good at this. Already a few moments in and Sonny was biting his lip, ready to indicate that he was about to come. This was so much better than airbrushed muscle shots – none of that had ever really been to Sonny's taste. He liked his men firm, but not looking like they could bench press a small car without breaking a sweat. He liked them tall, blond, blue eyed...

Will. He liked Will. He liked the way that Will's hand and fingers knew how to tease him, the flat and strong curve of his tongue underneath his erection, the noises (oh god, how loud were they being? Would everyone know that Will was in here?). He liked Will. Loved him. Would fall at the ground and worship him if he weren't in the middle of getting an amazing blow job that was helping him to forget about the clinical nature of the room they were in and the pressure that he was under to come so that the clinic could—

"Hey," Will said, bringing him back to the present. "Don't."

"What?"

"Don't drift. Stay with me."

Sonny reached out, his fingernails brushing against Will's temple before his fingers threaded through his hair. "Always."

This time he watched as Will's mouth sunk over him, lips wide but tight and so damn hot that it took seconds to bring him back.

"God, Will... I'm... I..."

And then the heat was gone in the second before he came, hands gripping the unit for support as his legs threatened to give out under him. Will's hands, strong and supportive, kept him from falling, holding him as Will stood to kiss him tenderly.

"Shit, I didn't—" Sonny said, breaking off and looking down in panic. Instead of seeing the mess he'd expected he seemed relatively clean. When he looked up Will was holding the container Sonny had been given. "You are far too talented for your own good, you know that?"

"Well I thought one of us should be paying attention, seeing as we actually need this to have a child."

"Show off."

"Talented," Will grinned, "you just said so."

Sonny gave a half-growl, half-laugh as he turned Will, pinning him against the unit that had kept Sonny upright. Pressing against him he could feel how turned on Will was; his hand cupped Will's erection, palming him through his jeans.

"Son... we don't have time," Will managed to say between breaths. "You heard what the nurse said. Soon as you're done—"

"Way to kill the mood," Sonny protested, stepping back and removing his hand.

For a second Will looked like he was going to complain, but he handed the cup to Sonny. "Go. Give them the goods."

"The goods?" Sonny asked, raising his eyebrows mockingly.

"Shut up and give me a minute to cool down. Then we can go home and do this properly."

"Deal," Sonny whispered, giving Will a kiss. "Thanks for your help."

"Anytime," he laughed.

"I might hold you to that," Sonny grinned before leaving the room, letting the door close gently behind him. 

~~

Once they were safely in the car they sat for a moment, staring straight ahead.

"So this time tomorrow..." Will said finally, breaking the silence.

"Yeah."

"It doesn't quite seem real. Not yet. Is that weird?"

"Well it's not. Not really. Tomorrow's when the magic happens."

"Magic?" Will asked, turning to look at Sonny. "Did you skip biology?"

"Just never paid attention to this bit," he laughed. "What? I knew I was gay, I didn't think that this would ever be relevant to me." When he saw Will's face fall a little he shook his head. "I was fourteen, Will. I was barely out to myself, let alone anyone else, and I never thought that I would have this kind of life, this kind of love. And all of this?" he said, gesturing to the building they'd just left. "This wasn't exactly commonplace ten, fifteen years ago. If you were gay then the chances of you being able to have a family?

"But now look at us. Married and raising a beautiful daughter and from tomorrow—"

"We're going to have a beautiful boy," Will finished.

"You're really stuck on this idea of us having a boy, aren't you?"

"No. Well, maybe a little. Like if they gave us a choice then I'd want a boy. But I know we don't get that choice because unlike you I did pay attention in biology." He laughed and reached over to touch Sonny's cheek. "I don't care. I honestly don't care. I want them to be all the usual clichés. I want them to be happy and healthy and loved."

"They will be," Sonny said, turning his face to kiss the palm of Will's hand. "All that and more."

"Let's go home," Will whispered.

"I thought we were going to collect Ari from—oh," he said as he caught Will's eye. "Right. Yes. Home."

He leaned over and kissed Will, just once, grabbing the collar of his shirt to keep him close for a fraction longer than they normally did.

"So... about that promise?" Sonny asked.

"Take me home and I'll make good on it." 

~~

Howard met them in the reception of the clinic, warmly shaking their hands as he came to meet them. "So, excited yet?"

"He barely slept last night," Sonny laughed, slipping his free arm around Will's waist. "Mind you, I only know that because I didn't either."

"You'd probably not be surprised to learn that most people in your position say pretty much the same thing," Howard said. "This way, guys, Olivia's already being prepped."

"And the... other stuff?" Will asked, his hand finding Sonny's as they fell into step behind Howard.

"That went fine last night, the doctors say everything looks good. We have three viable embryos, and if you're sure that you only want to use one--?"

"We're sure," Sonny said. "Less chance of twins."

"I thought that was your side?" Howard asked Will.

"It is," Will said. "My mom's a twin, and I have twin siblings. Just... knowing our luck we'd end up with a houseful on our first attempt. At least the twins on Sonny's side are adopted! But one's enough. For now anyway."

"If this goes well then it does give you the option of full siblings for any future children," Howard said, holding open a door for them to go in. Olivia was perched on the edge of a bed, clearly waiting for them. "Morning!" Howard greeted her warmly. "How are we this fine day?"

"Yeah, OK," she said dully. "Hey."

Will looked over at Sonny, who in the manner of those attuned to each other, understood.

"So Howard," Sonny said brightly, "walk me through this again."

"Well it's quite simple, we—"

"Let's do this outside, I'm sure Olivia's had enough medical stuff to last her a while," Sonny interrupted, guiding Howard out and leaving Will with Olivia.

Will said nothing to begin with, just walked over to and hopped up beside her on the bed. "So when we were at the clinic yesterday we had a bit of a drama," Will said. "The pressure got to Sonny and well... he struggled to... y'know. I had to sneak in and help him. Something that wasn't a problem before suddenly became the biggest issue because he knew how important it was. And he was so scared of failing, of letting _me_ down – can you believe that? – that he couldn't... Well. We got there in the end, obviously, otherwise we wouldn't be here today.

"Neither of us could sleep either so we ended up just lying in bed and talking. About what we'd do if this did work, what we'd do if didn't. And while we want this child, more than anything else in the world right now, we do know that it's not as simple as wanting something and then going out to get it. So much can happen over the next nine months. So much can happen in nine minutes.

"What we have always done, Sonny and I, is that we've always rolled with the punches. When Gabi went to prison we rolled with it and we got our daughter through it. When she was sick we rolled and we got her through it. When Sonny went in for that operation to save her, when I thought that I might lose him? When I was shot and he thought he'd lose me. So many moments that could have broken us over the years and we've just come out of it stronger.

"I know that me and him? We're good. We are strong and we will weather anything that comes our way so long as we do it together. Whatever news, whatever happens. We'll be OK. So long as you are too.

"Sonny... He's everything to me. There's a really long story about my coming out and everything that happened between then and us getting married, and because of all that I know that he is it for me. He's everything, he's that soul mate that everyone talks about. And I want to give him everything that he wants, everything that he deserves. He wants this, Olivia, more than I think he knows how to express. Arianna is his and she always has been but he wants this baby more than I ever thought he would.

"But we only want this if you're on board. So if you're not—"

"Will," Olivia said softly, "I'm fine. I'm not backing out, I promise you that. It's just... it's hitting me, I guess. That we're really doing this. Part of me has just been waiting for Howard to turn around and say there's been a mistake, that I don't get to do this for you. That you decided on someone better, more suitable."

"Olivia—"

"But it's not and we're here. And doing this for you guys? It's.. I'm not a smart woman, I was never going to do anything amazing with my life like be a doctor or a lawyer or a teacher or nothing. Lily is pretty much the only decent thing I've done with my life. Being her mom is... it's the same everything that being Arianna's father is to you two.

"Being pregnant was the greatest time of my life. I was sick as a dog for weeks," she laughed, "but knowing that there was another person growing inside of me, someone that I was responsible for and helping them get a good start in life. It was... I loved the feel of her moving inside me, even the kicks."

"I remember the first time Arianna kicked," Will said. "We'd gone for the sonogram, I'd just seen her and she... she greeted me with this thud against Gabi's belly and I just... That was my kid, my little girl."

"And this one will be too," Olivia said, "and all I have to do is look at you two and I know that I'm doing the right thing. I'm doing the best thing. Even for you."

"What do you mean, even for me?"

"Well it's the thing isn't it with two guys? One of them the daddy and one isn't. Biologically anyway. And you just need to look at Sonny with Arianna and you don't know that he's not her daddy. Biologically speaking," she said as Will laughed.

"Well, she does have some Kiriakis in her," he said. "Ari's sickness? She had leukaemia. Sonny was the donor."

"Really loves her, doesn't he?"

"Like she's his."

"And I know you'll love this one like they're yours. I know you're already excited and worried for this kid and they're not even here yet. It's going to be OK, Will. I promise you. Whatever happens..."

"Hey, we know it won't be your fault if... I mean, things happen... but..."

"Will, I know, I know," she said. "Look, if I seem out if it then it's because I had... well, it was a tough weekend, that's all. Nothing big. But I'm here now and you're here and we are going to do this."

"So. Are you ready for us to put a baby in you?" he asked, before laughing at the absurdity of what he had just said.

"I am," she smiled.

~~

"...yes, Mom... No, we don't know yet... Well you're the one who's been pregnant before, you know how these things work!"

Sonny bit off a laugh as he watched Will roll his eyes and try to wind up the pointless conversation with his mother.

"Daddy talking to Granny?" Ari asked.

"He is, baby," he said, hauling her up into his lap, "so we need to be extra nice to him."

"I 'member," she said. "He talking 'bout me?"

Sonny pressed a kiss into her hair. "Why'd you ask?"

"He said baby. That's me."

"Yeah, it is," he laughed softly. "But he's not talking about you."

The girl on his knee began to vibrate with excitement. "My baby brother!" she remembered. "I'm getting a baby brother?"

Sonny became aware that Will had ended the call and was now watching them. He gave a small nod.

"Am I, Daddy? Papa won't tell me!"

"You remember that nice lady we met?" Will asked, kneeling in front of them. "The one who might be the mommy for our new baby?"

"Yeah," Ari grinned.

"Well, we need to wait a few weeks to find out, but she might be having a baby for us."

"It's a secret at the moment though, baby," Sonny said.

"Only you, me and Daddy," she nodded.

"Once we know that everything is OK then we can tell people."

"Can I tell Grammy Sami?" she asked. "I wanna tell her."

"Why?" Will asked.

"Because then she won't make you all cranky," she declared, "and I won't have to be extra nice to you like I always do when you speak to her."

"We are raising a girl who is far too smart for her own good," Will said to Sonny.

"She is part Kiriakis," Sonny laughed, kissing the top of her head again. She turned in his lap and wrapped her arms around him in a hug. "Wouldn't expect my girl to be anything else."

~~

"Your wine, and no that does not come with baby news," Sonny said, putting the glass down in front of Abby.

"But you find out soon, right?" she asked.

"Yes," he grinned.

"Tomorrow soon? Two days?"

"You'll know when we tell you!"

"Oh come on. Please? At least can I be first? I introduced you two, remember?"

"You make it sound like Will and I would never have met without you," he said, leaning on the bar. "I think we'd have run into each other eventually."

"Maybe, but I made it memorable. You had the wedding out in the square because that's where you two met, imagine where it could have been otherwise."

"You know we have parents, right?"

"And you'll be on the phone to them for ages when you tell them. Just text me, whatever. On the day you find out, text me first."

"Fine. Yes. I will text you first. I promise. If only to shut you up."

Abby laughed and bounced on her seat a little.

"You know Arianna does that when she's excited," Sonny pointed out.

"How's she taking the news that she's going to be a big sister?"

"She's sworn to secrecy, so no talking to her about it," Sonny warned. "I mean it, Abby."

"I promise, I won't say a word to anyone."

"She's excited about having a baby brother."

"A boy, huh?"

"That's Will's fault," Sonny sighed. "This all started because he had this image of a boy with dark hair and dark eyes."

"Basically a mini you?"

"Basically," he laughed. "And... He said it to give me something to fight for when I went in for the operation, so he wouldn't let me answer the question. But the second he said it I wanted it too. I really did. And you know how much I love Arianna, but to have a child and see me in them? To actually see my eyes or hair?"

"You know it doesn't mean anything," Abby said, putting a hand over his. "There isn't a single person who sees you with her who doesn't see how much you love her. And I have known you pretty much my entire life so I know that when this baby comes along, even if they have your hair and your eyes you won't be able to see a difference between them."

"Thank you," he whispered.

"This is why I'm your favourite cousin," she laughed.

"And why yes, I will tell you first."

"Just making sure," Abby grinned, sipping at her wine.

Sonny stood up just as the door opened and Will came in. He walked behind the bar, greeted his husband with a kiss, then pulled out his cell phone to show Sonny something. Without a word Sonny pulled out his own phone and quickly typed a message.

On the bar Abby's phone buzzed and beeped.

**From: Sonny K  
Positive. :)**


	2. Chapter 2

When Sonny came into their room that night he caught Will's gaze. Immediately they both broke into a grin and Sonny was on the bed soon after, crawling towards Will and his willing kiss. Will's hands held Sonny's face gently, almost reverently, even as Sonny curled to one side.

"We're pregnant," Will laughed softly as Sonny shifted under the covers, hands reaching for Will almost at the same time. When Sonny stilled he pushed his head back a little, increasing the slight distance between them. "What?"

"It's... it's nothing," Sonny tried to dismiss. When Will's expression indicated he wouldn't let it drop Sonny sighed. "I just... I can't help but think of last time."

"Last time?"

"The whole baby thing. With Ari. When you found out, when I found out..."

"Oh."

And with that the mood seemed to crack around them. Will rolled over so he was lying on his back, leaving Sonny to curl into him.

"This is better," Sonny whispered in his ear. "I wish I could have shared that news with you at the start but I have understood for a long time why you didn't. I didn't bring it up to hurt you, Will, I'm sorry if I did. I just... This really does feel like the start of something for our little family."

Will didn't move, still staring at the same spot on the ceiling.

"Will..."

When there was still no response Sonny moved, pushing up so he could look down on Will. His eyes were shining with tears and Sonny's heart lurched in fear that he'd caused them.

"Oh, Will—"

"I'm OK," he whispered, still not looking at Sonny, "really, I'm OK. You're right. This is... this is right. You and me and kids and it's everything that I never even thought I could have."

"What do you mean?" Sonny asked softly, his fingertips resting on Will's sternum where he could feel the dull thump of life and love.

"When I first came out, all those conversations I had with Grandma Marlena, I felt... I thought, back then, that coming out meant I had to give up some things."

"Like what?"

Will turned his head to face Sonny and a single tear escaped, splashing down onto the pillow. "Being a husband. A father."

"Things change, love," Sonny replied. "I never thought that I'd, that we'd be able to get married but here we are."

"Sometimes I look at Ari and I feel guilty," Will whispered suddenly. "Guilty that I gave her up, guilty that I let Nick push me into hiding her from you, guilty that I didn't fight more for her."

"Don't, don't think like that," Sonny said, his hand moving from Will's chest to his face. "You are a fantastic father, don't ever think otherwise."

"But what kind of dad gives up on their kid?"

"You... you thought you were doing the right thing by her," Sonny said. "You believed at that time, honestly believed, that I wouldn't want you with a baby in tow and that her being with Nick and Gabi was going to give her a stable home."

"But I was so stupid—"

Sonny hushed him with a soft kiss. "That's what you thought at the time," he repeated. "Hindsight proved otherwise and you got the chance to be a father to her, to not only be in her life but to be her whole life. But there's more to being a parent than just being there, you know that. Gabi knew that too when she told us to stop bringing Ari in."

"But this is different," Will said. "This kid isn't going to have a mom around. What if they want to know about her? What if they--?"

"The egg donors all write letters about themselves which a child can read, and if he has any questions then we will always be honest and truthful with him."

"Him, huh?" Will asked, raising an eyebrow.

"The bottom line is this, Will. We are having this kid because we love each other. We are having this kid because we want to expand our family. He is going to feel loved and wanted and isn't that the most important thing? He will be loved and wanted just as much as Ari is loved and wanted."

"But I didn't—"

"But you do now. And that's what matters. You have been there for her every moment of her life   
and that's what matters."

"OK," Will nodded slightly. "The kids. That's what matters. You, me, Ari... whoever the baby turns out to be."

"Our baby," Sonny grinned, dipping his head for a soft kiss.

"Well, yours but—"

"No buts," Sonny cut across. "Ours. My name on the birth certificate then after a few weeks a few signatures and he'll be yours too. Our baby, just like Arianna is mine."

"Yeah, I hope so—"

"Will, don't. Don't do this, this is a happy moment for us," Sonny urged. "He will be yours, I promise you. I know you, I know your heart. I know that when you see him you'll feel what I felt for Ari when I first saw her, held her. From that first moment on Smith Island to the last moment I have on this earth she is my daughter. I loved her like she was mine before she was mine, and I know that you will love him like he's yours." The hand returned to Will's chest, palm down over his heart. "I know he already is."

"You keep saying he."

"I know, I just... I can't help thinking that it is a boy. Totally irrational I know, but I just... I feel it."

"I had a dream once, when Gabi was pregnant, before it all came out. I dreamt that Gabi and Nick were taking my child away and I couldn't stop them. I dreamt it was a boy—"

"Yeah, well we both know that I have the finer tuned senses out of the pair of us."

"And how do you rate that?" Will laughed.

"We both know that I have always figured things out before you."

"If this is the whole gaydar thing again—"

"Says the guy who didn't get _The Sixth Sense_ until someone explained it to him. And can never work out who the killers are until ten seconds before they're revealed."

"Oh that's... that's mean," Will pouted, his face only breaking into a smile when Sonny started to laugh.

"I don't know who the baby is," Sonny whispered as he moved atop Will, "and I don't really care. Excited to find out though."

"I—" Will began, but his sentence and thought were swallowed in a kiss.

~~~

"But _whyyyyyyyyyyyy_?"

Arianna's elongated whine shouldn't have made them laugh but it did. Three years old and already demanding.

"Because it's just for me and Daddy," Sonny explained patiently.

"He's my brother."

"Arianna—"

" _Pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeease_? I'll be a good and hold your hand all the time."

"No," Sonny said firmly, lifting her down from where she was stood on the couch. "And it's not because we don't want you there, baby girl. But today's going to be really boring, I promise."

"I wanna see my brother," she pouted, wrapping her arms tight around Sonny's leg.

"Hey," Will said, crouching down so he was on her level. "Hey, baby. I promise we will bring you back a picture and a video, OK? And Papa's right, it's going to be really boring."

"I can be good," she muttered into Sonny's jeans.

"I know you can, sweetie," Will said, prying her free and hauling her up into his arms, "but you still can't come."

"No," she said, this time clinging to Will. "I wanna come."

"Grandma Adrienne is looking forward to spending time with you," Sonny said, resting a hand on her back. "And I made her promise to give you more than one scoop of ice cream this time."

"Really?" Ari said, turning a little in Will's arms.

"And the weather's getting nice so you can get out into the garden."

"I wanna ride the horses."

"Not yet," Sonny said, helping her down to her feet, "but as soon as you're big enough, I promise."

"I'm big now!"

"Yes you are, sweetie, but not quite big enough."

"Not fair."

"But you're growing every day," Will said, taking her hand and finally starting the walk towards the front door.

"Will I be big like you one day?"

"Maybe," Will laughed, checking to see that Sonny was OK grabbing the rest of Ari's things.

"I meant Papa," Ari said matter-of-factly as Will opened the door for her. "I Kiri-ask baby girl."

To his credit Sonny bit off his laughter as best he could as he followed his husband and daughter out of the apartment.

~~~

Reaching out on instinct Sonny found Will's hand without even needing to look. They were both fixed on the screen, looking for the first sign, any sign, of their hopes and dreams and love made manifest in that child.

"And there they are," the sonographer said, pointing the unmistakable curves of a baby's belly and head on the screen. "That's the heartbeat, right there," he added, indicating the fluttering on the screen. "Want to hear?"

Sonny was slightly aware that he'd said something, only registering it as an affirmative when the sonographer tapped a key and from the speakers came a sound that seemed to ring in Sonny's ears and drown out his own; the puttering of a tiny heartbeat.

"Everyone worried about it being fast, but that's normal for a baby at around twelve weeks," the sonographer said. "Just need to take some measurements to confirm but everything looks good so far."

"Hey," Will's voice whispered in Sonny's ear, seconds before he pressed himself flat against Sonny's back. "You OK?"

"I... that's..."

"I know," Will laughed softly, kissing the tendon at the side of Sonny's neck. "That's our baby."

"Was this what it was like for you? Seeing Ari that first time?"

"Yeah," Will breathed, his arms circling Sonny's waist. "It was _exactly_ like this."

Sonny understood the inflection, his hands found Will's clasped on his stomach, and they stood lost in the image on the screen until another voice cut through.

"Guys?"

"What? Sorry," Sonny said, turning to face Olivia. "Did you say something?"

"You were really gone, weren't you?" she asked, her voice calm and level.

"Yeah, sorry, I just... _Thank you_. In fact thank you doesn't seem to be enough. I just..."

"What my husband is trying to convey is that we will never be able to thank you enough for this, for what you're doing," Will said.

"You know I want to help you guys out, of course I do," she replied. "And our sonographer would like to know if you want pictures and video."

"Oh god, yes," Sonny laughed, "all of them. As many copies as we can carry."

"We promised Ari," Will explained. "She wanted to come and meet her baby brother."

"You know I can't tell the baby's gender at the moment, right?" the sonographer said.

"Yeah, we know. It's just a thing with us at the moment," Will said. "I mean, so long as the baby's healthy, right?"

"Everything looks good and within the range of where it should be for around the twelve week mark."

"So are we--?" Sonny began.

"Actually, would you mind if I had a word with the doctor? Alone?" Olivia asked them.

"Is everything OK?" Sonny asked, his heart preparing to sink.

"It's fine, don't worry," she assured him. "Just some questions that you really don't want to hear the answers to."

"And we'll be outside," Will said, grabbing Sonny's hand and pulling him out of the room.

Once the door was shut Olivia turned to the doctor. "This whole doctor-patient confidentiality thing," she started, "it's just us, right? They don't need to know?"

"Just you and me," the sonographer confirmed.

"You kept saying 'around twelve weeks'—"

"Oh that's just habit," he said. "With pregnancies it is almost impossible to pinpoint the actual date of conception and implantation."

"But could you work it out? I mean, can you tell how old the child is exactly?"

"Well in your case, yeah," he said, picking up her file. "That's one benefit about IVF."

"And this baby, it matches those dates?"

"Not every baby is the same, don't worry. That's why we have a scale for these things. Look," he said, showing her the page where he'd taken his notes. "This is the lower and upper limits that we would expect for a healthy baby at this stage of gestation. And this," he said, indicating marks, "is where the baby is."

"So he's a little on the big side?"

"They're in the 60th percentile, yes."

"So what does that mean? Date wise?"

"Nothing," the doctor said. "Is everything--?"

"Lily was small," she said quickly. "Caused a bit of confusion over dates and the like, and they were worried about her because of it."

"Well I don't think we're going to have that problem here," he laughed softly. "That is a healthy twelve-week old foetus that you're carrying."

"And you're sure about that?"

"Is there something wrong, Olivia?"

"I'm just... They want this so much and I guess I want to make sure that everything is as it should be, that's all," she said, lying back and looking up at the ceiling.

"Well so far things are looking good. Now, did you want a picture yourself? I know some surrogates do and some don't."

~~~

As Olivia left the room Will and Sonny pretty much jumped to their feet to greet her. "It's fine, I told you," she said. "Just had some questions, that's all."

"You're sure? There's nothing you're worried about?" Will asked, instinctively reaching out to her. "I know we're excited over this but—"

"I promise you," she said, taking his outstretched hand. "I'm fine, the baby's fine. Everything is as it should be."

"Really?" Sonny asked.

"Really. Come here," she laughed, reaching out for Sonny and pulling the pair of them into a hug. "I promise you that this is going to be fine. Oh, I have the pictures for you." She pulled back and pulled out the scans to hand over to them. "Now go tell your little girl that she's about to become a big sister."

"Thank you," Sonny said, pulling her back into a hug. "I know... I'm going to say that a lot over the next six months and every day after that for the rest of my life. And I'm going to never be able to fully express how much I mean it."

"I know," she whispered.

"If you need anything," he continued. " _Anything_ , then I need you to call us. Even if it's in the middle of the night."

"She has a partner for that," Will said, reaching out and pulling Sonny free. "Come on. Ari will be running rings around your mom and while you know I love watching that we need to keep her on side for when she's got two to mind."

"Yes, right, Arianna," Sonny said. "We should let you get back to your little girl too."

Olivia gave a small smile and watched them leave, making sure they were gone before she pulled out her cell and sent a quick message. When the response came back she pocketed the phone and headed for the exit herself.

~~~

"I wanna see I wanna see I wanna see!" Arianna ran away from Adrienne and launched herself into her Papa's arms as they walked into the club. "I wanna see my brother!"

"Well good thing Daddy has pictures then," Sonny laughed, kissing her temple. "Have you been good for Grandma?"

"Of course she was," Adrienne said as she joined them, kissing Sonny's cheek in greeting. "She always is."

"I wanna see I wanna see!" Ari squirmed, reaching out for Will. "Show me!"

"OK, OK, OK, let's go sit down," Sonny said.

"We have a video too," Will said.

"Put it on the big screen!" Ari asked, pointing to the wall mounted one behind them.

"I don't think the whole club wants to see a sonogram of our baby," Will laughed.

"Oh I don't know about that," Abby called from behind them. "Be easier to show everyone at the same time."

They turned in time to see half their combined families walking in. Abby, JJ, Sami, EJ, Jennifer, all not even trying to pretend they just happened to arrive at the club.

"What is this?" Will asked. "Couldn't you just wait for the group email?"

"No," Sami said, kissing the boys on the cheek and then lifting Ari from Sonny's arms. "Now get that video on the big screen. I want to see my grandchild."

"You heard your mom," Sonny said. "Where did you put it?"

"I thought you had it? Olivia gave you the scans."

"Scans, yes. Video? No."

"You left it, didn't you?" Will said.

"I wanna see!" Ari protested.

"So would I, baby girl, but Papa left it behind."

"Silly Papa."

"Silly Papa indeed," Will mocked.

"It'll be at the hospital, I'll go and get it when Daddy takes you home, OK?" Sonny offered.

"No, go now! I wanna see!"

"You heard the big sister," Will laughed. "Best do as you're told."

"Aren't we supposed to be the ones in charge?" Sonny asked. "You know? Parents, child?"

"Oh my darling boy," Adrienne said, putting a hand on his shoulder, "so much you have yet to learn."

"It's just going to get worse, isn't it?" he asked quietly.

"Try not to think of it as worse," she laughed. "More like... interesting."

"You couldn't have warned me about this _before_?" he asked.

"And miss out on you learning it for yourself? You figured that one out very early on; if you love someone that much then—"

"Yeah, I know," he said. "Right, well I'll be back as soon as I can." He kissed Will gently before going to kiss Ari. She pulled back slightly and made a face. "What?"

"After video," she declared.

"Wow. Rejected by my own daughter," Sonny laughed. "After video then, but you owe me two kisses."

"After."

Laughing Sonny pulled the door open and stepped out, almost running into the person heading into the club. "Oh, sorry, I-- Olivia?"

"Sonny! You left this at the hospital," she said, holding up the disc. "I thought I'd drop it in on my way to... meet someone."

"Thank you," he said, taking it from her. "I have a very demanding four-year old in there, desperate to see him. You have no idea how much this means to us."

"I should—"

"No, wait, look... I know it's probably a bit much but if I go back in there with this then they're going to want to know who brought it and I know we talked about you maybe meeting the family and—" He stopped and turned to look at the door. "Actually, they're all in there. That might be a bit much."

"They want to meet me?"

"You're helping us have a child," Sonny said. "I think they're all pretty much ready to write you into their wills!"

"So let's get it over with then," she said. "I can't stay long, I'm meeting someone in a bit. Go in, say hi, get their wills changed, leave..." She laughed and held out her hand. "After you."

"You are amazing, you know that?" Sonny said, kissing her forehead on instinct. "I... sorry. Was that too much?"

"No, it... It's OK. Come on."

When Sonny walked back into the club he held up the disc to Arianna's delight, turned and introduced Olivia to those assembled, and was so busy trying to make sure that their mothers didn't smother her in hugs that he didn't notice that they were one member down in their gathering.

Olivia finally made her excuses and left, stopping just outside the door.

"Something you want to tell me?" JJ asked.

"I was going to."

"When? When you went into labour? When you started wearing baggy clothes?"

"JJ—"

"You're my cousins' surrogate, Liv. You're... Oh god, everyone's been joking that because this is me that something would go wrong. But I never once imagined this." 

"JJ, please. Can we go somewhere and talk about this?"

"Talk about what? You're pregnant with, oh god. You're pregnant with Sonny's kid."

"Please—"

"I just... Why didn't you tell me?"

"Because until this weekend I didn't know what we were or where we were going," Olivia countered. "I had no idea how serious you were about me, about us, and to be honest? I didn't know how to tell you."

"Well I'm here now. Tell me now."

"Not here," she said, glancing back at the closed door. Behind it she could hear the unmistakeable sounds of people fawning over the video, of congratulations being offered to the fathers-to-be. "Because there's more to this."

"More to you—wait, hang on," JJ said. "They talked about your partner, your daughter. What the hell, Liv?"

"I never lied to you, I swear that. I swear it on everything; on Lily's life, on this baby's life. I promise you I never lied."

"You left some pretty big stuff out. Like the agency you work for being a surrogacy one?"

"Please, JJ. You need to let me explain."

"I just—"

"You told me that you were falling in love with me," she said quickly. "You said that. You said those exact words to me this weekend and if you do love me then that can't just suddenly change because you find out some new information about me. Because this shouldn't change how you feel, not if you do love me."

"Liv... I..." He stopped and shoved his hands in his pockets. "I meant it. Still do."

"But?" she ventured.

"But I thought it was complicated when it was just you and me and Lily."

"That is complicated," she laughed. "But this baby doesn't need to be a complication. It shouldn't matter. They're your cousins, you said that you love them—"

"Of course I do!"

"And they're great people. "

"Liv—"

"But there's more to it than that," she said.

"More to what? You mean us? Are you worried about what they'll say, because you know them. They're pretty cool people."

"It's not that, and I don't think you're going to think that either."

"Liv, what is going on?"

"Please? Can we just... go somewhere?"

"I'm not going to like this, am I?"

"I... don't know," she admitted. "Please? We were going to have lunch anyway. I don't want to lose you over this."

"They need to know, Liv. They have to know we're together."

"They will," she said, reaching out a hand to him. "Soon. But not until we've talked, not until you know everything."

"There's more? Of course there's more," he sighed, "there's always more."

"You need to know some things. Once you do... then we can decide."

"OK," he said eventually. "Where do you want to talk?"

"Somewhere not here," she said, "or anywhere we might be seen."

"You know, that scares me a little," he said as she started to walk past him. When she didn't respond he realised that this was only the start.

~~~

When Will walked into the apartment Sonny immediately held a finger to his lips in an effort to prevent the laughter that would surely follow. And sure enough, Will had to bite his lip to stop himself from laughing at the sight of Arianna, fast asleep with her head in Sonny's lap and the sonogram DVD still playing on the TV.

"She wouldn't let me switch it off," Sonny whispered as Will leant over the back of the couch to kiss him.

"And you of course put up a fight," Will quipped, removing the ice cream from the bag and grabbing a couple of spoons from the drawer.

"Hey, she didn't want Oscar to go to sleep alone."

"Oscar?"

"Yeah, she's named him. I think she's watched a few too many episodes of _Sesame Street_ but I didn't want to argue with her."

"Wise move," Will said, slotting into the space between Arianna's feet and the end of the couch. "Although one request."

"What?"

"If it is a boy, can we not name him Oscar?"

"Deal," Sonny laughed. "I should get her into bed."

"She's OK for now," Will said, prying the lid from the container and handing it over to Sonny with a spoon. "Don't disturb her."

"You just love these moments," Sonny said, digging into the already thawing ice cream.

"Blame me?"

"No," he said before he took a mouthful. "Love 'em too."

"It's going to be different when he arrives," Will said, gesturing towards the screen with his spoon, before reaching over Ari to dig into the tub.

"Already thinking about that," Sonny said. "I mean, he can be in with us for the first few months, but after that we might need to look at his own room."

"I hate moving," Will sighed.

"You weren't involved in this move!" Sonny protested quietly. "You came out of hospital and I had it all set up."

"I liked that one. If you can do that again I'd appreciate it."

"I was thinking about us finding a home together this time if it's all the same to you," Sonny said, handing the carton over to Will. With his now free hands he reached over to pick up his iPad, unlocking the screen, "but I have narrowed it down a little."

"I want a garden," Will said without looking at the screen. "A room for each of the kids and a garden."

"Already factored in," Sonny grinned, "and I took the liberty of checking out schools for Ari and... not Oscar."

"See, this is why we work," Will said. "You do all the practical stuff, and I focus on the fun things."

"Like eating ice cream straight from the tub?"

"Exactly," he grinned.

"This is the one I like best," Sonny said, selecting one of the properties on the screen, "but there's a catch."

"Always is," Will said, exchanging the carton for the iPad. "Oh. OK. A catch."

"Yeah."

"It's perfect though."

"Room for each of them and a playroom that we could maybe use as a nursery for a third child? Office for us to use; you with your books, me with the clubs. Large garden for them to run around in—"

"We could get a dog," Will declared. "We'd really be that couple then. Two kids, a house with a garden, and a dog."

"I know it's out of Salem—"

"You say that like it's a bad thing," Will said.

"Our moms might see it that way. And there are some places in Salem that I found too, but mostly it's three bed apartments and I know how badly you want a garden."

"We have a little while before we need to decide," Will said.

"A few months at least."

"Do you want to move out of Salem?"

Sonny gave a non-committal shrug. "This isn't about me," he decided on, "this is about them. There are some great schools in the area for Ari, the garden for them to play in. There's space for us to grow and make it a family home."

"Huh," Will said, putting down the iPad and reaching out for the ice cream, "so this is what it means to be parents."

"Guess so," Sonny said, licking his spoon clean.

"For the record, I don't care where we live."

"Me either."

"Dibs not telling our moms though," Will added quickly.

Sonny laughed and brushed Arianna's dark hair from her sleeping face. "We'll just send them our change of address cards," he joked.

"That sounds like a great idea," Will laughed sharply, then covered his mouth when Ari was startled and started to stir.

"OK, time to get this one into bed," Sonny said, maneuvering out from under her and then lifting her into his arms. She stirred a little as he hoisted her into position, but she willingly wrapped her legs and arms around him, resting her head on his shoulder and dozing off again. "Back in a bit, don't eat all the ice cream."

"No promises," Will said, his gaze moving from the house displayed on the iPad to the looped sonogram of the baby on the TV.

This, he reasoned, was the definition of perfect. 

~~~

"Pride of place, huh?"

Sonny looked to where JJ was gesturing, and grinned when he saw the sonogram picture taped up behind the bar. "Yeah. Is that weird?"

"No, man. I'd be excited if I were you."

"We're at the second scan tomorrow," Sonny grinned. "Will wants to find out the sex of the baby."

"And you?"

"I don't care, neither does Will really. And I guess it would be a good thing to know, help us get the nursery ready and have proper conversations with Ari."

"Mom says that she keeps talking about her brother Oscar?"

"If it is a boy we are not calling him Oscar," Sonny laughed. "And I guess that's another reason for finding out. Let the name arguments begin in earnest."

"Must be weird, having a surrogate do all the work?"

"Olivia's great. She's wonderful, kind, generous. You'd like her."

"What?" JJ said, almost choking on his coffee.

"Well you disappeared when she stopped by after the scan."

"Oh, yeah. Sorry, I had... stuff on."

"You OK?" Sonny asked. "These last few weeks you've seemed... not as happy as you were before. Everything OK with your mystery momma?"

"Yeah," JJ said, a hint of a smile creeping onto his face. "I really... I kinda love her."

"Kinda?" Sonny asked.

"Oh shut up," JJ laughed into his drink. "Yeah, things are going well. We had a moment a little while back, we're working through it."

"Everything OK?"

"Getting there."

"Is this to do with her kid?"

"In part," JJ admitted. "But she's adorable, just like her mom."

"It's scary, isn't it?" Sonny asked.

"What?"

"Loving someone who has a child. Because falling in love isn't terrifying enough by itself, there's this whole other person, this child who is a part of the person you love. And you find that the love you have for them? Extends to their child in the same way."

"Really?"

"Yeah. It wasn't until Ari was in my arms, until I saw Will in her, that I realised that I loved her just as much as I loved her dad. And it may not have happened to you yet, but when it does? Trust me. It'll be the greatest thing you ever do."

"Were you worried? About Arianna and where you fit into all of that?"

"Every day," Sonny admitted. "Until that day in the hospital I had no rights over Ari, I was just her daddy's boyfriend, husband... Signing those papers? It was everything to me. Didn't change how I feel about her, nothing would. But at least now our relationship is official."

"And how did that work, with Gabi I mean?"

"The dad still in the picture?"

"Yeah. And he's a good dad, don't get me wrong. Adores his little girl."

"Look, no one is saying that she needs to start calling you papa or anything."

"Ari calls you that," JJ pointed out.

"Yeah, because that's what Will and Gabi wanted. I've been there since Ari was born. You and this little girl? It's different. You don't have to be anything other than JJ."

"I just never thought of myself as a dad, that's all."

"Me either," Sonny said, "now look at me." He gestured back to the scan on the wall. "When I came back here I had no idea where my life was going but I wouldn't change it for anything."

"So it's worth it?"

"Totally," Sonny said. "Trust me. Just a small word of warning."

"What?" JJ asked nervously.

"The one thing they all talk about but undersell? How you'd do anything for your family. And by that they really do mean anything. If you truly love them? Then nothing will be too much for them."

"Sounds terrifying."

"It is," Sonny said, "but in the good kind of way."

"I just... I don't want to hurt anyone."

"I can understand that," Sonny said, "but the trick is to just do what's right by those you love. The rest just seems to follow."

"Sonny—" JJ started, but then he stopped himself. "Thanks. For the chat."

"Any time."

"And I'm happy for you guys. The baby. I know how much you want this."

"It's insane how much I do. For someone who what? Five, six years ago never even considered the idea of kids? Can't imagine my life without them now."

"Them," JJ repeated.

"Yeah, been doing that a lot," Sonny laughed. "I was talking to some liquor sales rep the other day and we got talking about kids; when he asked how many I had I said two."

"You are so gone," JJ laughed.

"It'll be you one day, mark my words, Mr 'kinda in love'."

JJ laughed and turned his attention to his coffee.

"So... I take it this means we could get to meet the mystery momma soon?" Sonny asked.

"Maybe. There's a few things we need to sort out first, but I don't want to keep hiding things from you."

"Sounds ominous."

"You'll get it, I promise."

"I trust you," Sonny said before noticing another customer approaching the bar. "Hi, what can I get you?" he asked, moving away.

JJ returned to his coffee, sipping the bitter liquid and trying to tell himself that the trust wasn't misplaced. 

~~~

The look of relief that flooded Will's face when he opened the door couldn't be mistaken or hidden. "Thank you so much for this," he said, stepping back to let Adrienne in.

"You know I don't mind," she said, placing a reassuring hand on Will's arm. "Where is she?"

"Sulking in her room," Sonny said as he grabbed his jacket. "Tha—"

"If either of you thank me one more time for looking after my granddaughter then I will hit the pair of you," she said. "Now go before you're late."

"One quick question," Sonny asked as he kissed her cheek, "do you want to know?"

"Know?" she asked in confusion before she realised. "Are you finding out?"

"Maybe," Will said.

"He's bottling it," Sonny laughed. "This whole time he's been going on about having a boy and when we can actually find out?"

"I just think that there should be some surprises left," Will said.

"Go, argue about it on the way there," Adrienne said, shooing them out of the door, "and tell me when you get back, OK?"

Once the door was closed behind them she turned and headed towards Arianna's room. She knocked gently first. "Ari, honey? Can I come in?"

"You let them go without me," came a very annoyed voice from the other side.

"Oh honey—"

"I didn't go last time either!"

"I know, baby. Can I come in so we can talk about this properly?"

"No."

"OK," she said, sitting down in front of the door. "But I'm right here if you change your mind."

"Never coming out."

"That's fine," she said, making a show of examining her nails, even though Ari couldn't see her. Helped with the role she was trying to assume. "You know, when I was pregnant with your papa we didn't have all the things we have today. Ultrasounds were a new thing then, so most women didn't get to see their babies until they were born. I remember Grandpa Justin telling me that if I wanted to have one then I could, but I wasn't sure if it would hurt the baby or not so we didn't."

"Does it hurt the baby?" Ari's voice sounded closer, like she was now just on the other side of the door.

"Oh no, sweetheart, they don't even know it's happening. But sometimes when it's all new you get a little scared because you don't know what's going to happen. So the first time I saw your papa was when he was born. It was amazing, seeing him for the first time, getting to hold him in my arms, but there's a part of me that always regretted not having those pictures that your daddy has of you and this baby.

"But there was another reason why I didn't want to have a scan, something that I didn't tell Grandpa Justin until your papa was much older. Do you know why we give a mommy all these scans?"

There was a silence from the other side of the door, which Adrienne took to mean no.

"Well. When a baby is still inside their mommy we can't see how they're doing. We don't know if they're growing the way they should or if they're sick. The scans tell us that the baby is doing OK so we don't worry about them."

"Is my brother going to be OK?"

"I'm sure he is, honey," she soothed, "and you're old enough to understand that sometimes we get a little bit worried just in case something bad happens."

"Like when I had the flu?" Arianna asked.

"Like when you had the flu," Adrienne repeated. "Your daddy and papa were worried that you were sick like before again, but the doctors told them that you were going to be fine, remember?"

"I 'member."

"Well, they're worried about this baby and the doctors are going to have a look and make sure that he is growing the way he should be, and that he's going to be big and strong and healthy when he's born."

There was a slight click and Adrienne looked up to see the door being opened a crack. Through it she could see one eye, slightly obscured by a mass of curls.

"All they're doing is going to make sure that your little brother or sister—"

"Brother," Ari corrected.

"—is going to be OK. And there will be lots of people there with lots of equipment doing lots of things to the mommy."

"I don't like the machines," Ari said. "They make funny noises."

"I know, honey, and your daddies know that too. I know you want to go and see him, but they don't want you getting upset or scared."

"But I'm four now," she said matter-of-factly. "I'm a big girl."

"You always have been my big, brave girl," Adrienne said with a small laugh. "And your daddies will bring home lots of pictures and videos for you so you can see the baby and not be scared by all the machines."

"Like you were?"

"Yeah, sort of like I was," she said. "Now. Do I get my hello hug?"

The door opened enough for Ari to come out and wrap her arms around Adrienne's neck.

"That's my beautiful girl," she said. "Now. What do you want to do while we wait for your daddies?"

"Ice cream and DVD."

"OK, but only one scoop. Can't have you ruining your dinner."

"Fine," Ari sighed dramatically, causing Adrienne's face to crease a little in confusion before she laughed.

"I think that whatever that baby is, boy or girl, they are going to be very lucky to have you for a big sister."

Ari grinned and nodded. "We can play together and I can push them on the swings and I can help at bath time and feed them and sing lullabies to them 'cause I've been practising lots, Grandma, I'm really good."

"I bet you are, honey," Adrienne laughed, right before Ari launched into a rendition of Rock-a-bye Baby.

~~~

Still in mid-debate over whether they should find out the baby's gender, Will and Sonny left the elevator as a unit, falling into step with and beside one another. Their conversation flowed, half ideas picked up on and developed by the other, questions barely asked but always answered. They moved together in unison, and watching them JJ realised perhaps for the first time how perfectly suited his cousins were for each other. Each of them had their own strengths, perfectly complementing those of the other.

Will and Sonny, Sonny and Will. Everything about them screamed family. Will's stay-at-home writing job, Sonny's mostly-stay-at-home club management. A beautiful little girl who was, despite all attempts by life, growing up to be a very mature and well-adjusted person.

They were amazing parents already, they could be amazing parents to this child.

Could.

He waited, just out of sight, until the elevator dinged again and Olivia walked out. She smiled when she saw him, reached out with one hand while the other curled instinctively around the slight curve of her baby belly. She kissed him in greeting and then slid the free hand into his. They walked in silence down the same corridor that he'd watched his cousins walk down.

As they approached the double doors they hesitated for a second, but then JJ squeezed her hand and, taking a collective deep breath, they stepped through them together.

~~~

"Can you please say something?" JJ asked, looking from Will to Sonny who were still staring at them.

"I thought you..." Sonny said to Olivia, trailing off when he couldn't find a way to say it.

"We split up. A while ago now," she said. "We're still civil for Lily's sake, but he's not around."

"She's the woman you've been talking about?" Sonny then said to JJ. "The one with the kid?"

"Yeah."

"How long have you known she was--?"

"Your surrogate? Since she turned up at the club after your last scan."

"That must have been a shock," Will said.

"You're telling me," JJ half-laughed. "Look, I wanted to tell you guys then but we had a lot of stuff to talk about and deal with. I had no idea who she was to you and she had no idea I even knew you guys, let alone was related."

"I know this is a mess," Olivia said, "but we wouldn't be here together if we weren't serious about each other. I don't want to lie to you guys, you've been nothing but supportive and amazing and I really care about you."

"Is this even allowed?" Will asked.

"What?"

"The agency talked a lot about maintaining distance after the baby's born. If you two are together then you're going to see him. A lot. Every single day."

Olivia didn't respond to that, she just turned inwards to JJ.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to suggest you wouldn't be able to let go," Will said quickly. "It's just... this changes things a little."

"Maybe not," Sonny said. "Think about it, Will. Without Olivia we wouldn't be here now. Any of us. She is giving us an amazing gift and she's making our little cousin happy. Where's the downside?"

"It could get messy, that's all I'm saying," Will defended.

"It doesn't have to," JJ said. "I love her and she loves me. And we both really care about you guys and—"

They were interrupted by the nurse calling them in for their appointment, and JJ turned to look at Olivia.

"Can he...?" Olivia asked Will and Sonny, her hand gripping JJ's a little tighter.

"It's your appointment," Sonny pointed out. "If you want him in there."

"Only if it's OK with you two," she said. "The last thing I want to do is mess you about or hurt you in any way."

"I don't mind," Sonny said, turning to look at Will.

"Yeah, OK," he said. "It's still a little weird but... Sure. One big happy family, right?"

~~~

While the sonographer set up the machine JJ pulled Will to one side. "I don't want this to be weird."

"I... it won't be," Will sighed, "I'm just trying to get my head around it that's all."

"Tell me about it."

"Well you've had a month's head start, so give me a bit, yeah?" Will laughed. "I know that you love her, I know that you've been really good about getting involved with someone who has a kid. Sonny's done nothing but say how brilliant and responsible you've been and I know that if you're here today with her then you're not letting the fact she's carrying our baby get in the way of that.

"I'm just concerned about how things will be when the baby's born. I know that surrogates undergo counselling, that they're mentally prepared to give up the child, that she doesn't think of it as her kid, but seeing them all the time? I don't know what that'll do to her."

"We talked about that," JJ said. "but you're right. She doesn't think of it as hers. Neither of us do."

"I'm being over-cautious, aren't I?" Will said. "I just don't want the kid to be confused."

"They won't be," JJ said. "That baby is going to know exactly who their parents are."

"If you two are quite finished," Sonny called over to them, "how about you come say hi to your baby?"

The pair of them moved forward so they could see the screen, both of them immediately catching their breath as they did so.

The picture was clear; the baby's face filled the majority of the screen, a tiny thumb half in their mouth. Will was captivated by the sight, looking at the soft curve of the eyelids, the round cheeks and button nose. He reached out, finding Sonny's hand instinctively before squeezing it.

The screen moved as the sonographer found new angles to see the baby, but everything they saw was perfect to them. The tiny hands and fingers, the bend of an elbow and the broad shoulders. The curve of a spine to tiny feet tucked underneath their buttocks.

"Do you want to know?" the sonographer asked. "I can turn the screen if you don't."

"Yes," Sonny breathed. "Please."

Will nodded and so the screen remained facing them as the sonographer found the right angle to see the curve of the baby's belly, the snake of the umbilical cord, and there, right between its tucked legs, unmistakeably clear.

"A boy," Will whispered. "We're actually having a boy."

Sonny leaned back against Will who wrapped an arm around his shoulders. Will pressed a kiss to Sonny's temple and sighed.

"I didn't care," Will said. "I honestly didn't care if it was a boy or a girl."

"Me either," Sonny whispered.

"But I knew. I just... It's what I could see. You and our son."

"That's our little boy," Sonny managed to choke out.

"You know we want all the pictures, right?" Will laughed. "All of them."

"Everything's OK, right?" JJ asked. "He's good and healthy?"

"Everything's fine," the sonographer said.

"Last time he was a little bit big on the measurements," Olivia said. "Sixtieth percentile?"

"He's still there from what I can see which is good. Means he's maintaining a consistent growth. I'll take some more detailed measurements to be sure, but he's doing well."

"Of course he is," Will said, nuzzling in to the side of Sonny's neck. "He's a Kiriakis."

"A boy," Sonny whispered, unable to take his eyes off the face which was once again filling the screen. "Our son."

"This is the boring bit, right?" JJ said, "When you wave that stick around to measure him?"

"Pretty much," the sonographer laughed.

"We should—" Sonny started.

"Call everyone?" Will finished with a grin. "You're staying with her, right?" he asked JJ.

"I'm not going anywhere," he said, moving to Olivia's side and taking her hand. "Go. We'll be out when we're done."

"I... _thank you_ ," Sonny whispered, surging forward and kissing Olivia's forehead before returning to his husband's reach. 

Once they were gone, Olivia looked up at JJ. "I don't know if I can do this to them," she said quietly.

"We need to know first," he said, pressing a kiss into her hair.

"Can you... can you give us an idea of the date of conception? This scan can give you that information, right?" Olivia asked the sonographer.

"It can," he said, looking from her to JJ, "but your notes say that this is an IVF pregnancy."

"There's a chance..." JJ started, "a small one maybe... that the baby isn't theirs."

"I, we... we slept together a few days before the implantation and I know I wasn't supposed to and we did use protection but the condom burst and I was too scared to get Plan B in case it affected the surrogacy and now I don't know if it's their baby or if it's ours."

"How many is a few days?" the sonographer asked.

"Sunday night, the appointment was that Tuesday morning," JJ said.

"That's too close, I wouldn't be able to tell you for certain."

"But he's big," Olivia said. "He's a little bigger than he should be for his gestation."

"That could just be that he's big, every baby is different."

"So what? We wait until he's born and see who he looks like?" JJ said.

"The only way to be certain is to do a DNA test."

"Do we have to wait until he's born?" Olivia asked.

"No, in-utero tests are quite common. They come with some risks though, I can get a doctor to come and talk to you about it."

"Please," JJ said, grabbing Olivia's hand for support. "And we need it done soon. Sooner we know, sooner we know if we need to say anything to Sonny."

"It's not that simple," the sonographer said. "Under the terms of your surrogacy contract you can't do anything without his consent."

"But it's my body," Olivia said.

"I know that, but that's the contract you signed and that's what is legally binding at the moment. You cannot do anything to this baby without informing not only Sonny and Will, but also the agency."

Olivia sank back against the bed and tried really hard not to cry. She focused on JJ's hand in hers, his strong fingers gripping her and holding on as if she might float away without him. She tried to clear her mind, to distance herself from the child in her belly. A child that should not be hers, cannot be hers.

But could be hers.

It wasn't a kick that she felt, more like a fluttering as he turned over. She remembered the first time she'd felt Lily move, how close she'd felt to the child inside her, and with that memory she was unable to stop the tears from falling.

"Do you still want me to get the doctor?" the sonographer offered.

JJ watched Olivia give the smallest of nods. "Yeah," he said for them both, "we need to know what's going to happen. Then we can talk to them."

"OK," the sonographer said, pushing back her stool to stand. "I'll be as quick as I can."

"Don't say anything to them, please," Olivia begged. "They can't know, not yet."

"I couldn't if I wanted to."

"But what if they see the doctor coming in? They'll ask and—"

"It's OK, love," JJ said. "I'll go distract them, say something."

"No, I need you here with me."

"I'll be right back, I promise," he said, kissing her gently. "I love you."

"Love you."

"Try to relax, OK?" he whispered against her cheek before kissing that. He grabbed the printouts from the machine and followed the sonographer out. Once outside he saw Will and Sonny a little way down the corridor, Will still on the phone.

"Everything done?" Sonny asked when he saw JJ approaching.

"Almost, she just needs to have a quick word with the doctor," JJ said.

"What? Why?" Will asked. "Hang on, Mom." He lowered the phone and covered the mouthpiece. "Is there something—"

"It's fine, it's fine," JJ said. "She knew you'd stress the moment I mentioned it."

"Then what's going on?" Will asked.

"Like I know," JJ covered. "I barely passed Bio and to be honest I'm pretty much a novice to this whole pregnancy thing. Something about birth plans and drug plans and some other stuff I barely understood."

"But the baby's fine?" Will asked.

"Yes. I promise you. Baby's fine, Liv's fine, they're both fine. Just some questions now and some stuff to think about."

"OK," Will said, turning back to his call. "No, Mom, everything's fine. I'll see you later, OK? Yeah, love you too."

"Do you want us to wait?" Sonny offered.

"If you want," he said, "but I drove over so..." He held out the pictures to them. "Thought you might want these. Keep you entertained while you wait?"

"Or," Will said, taking the strip of pictures and holding them up, "we can leave them in peace and go tell Arianna that she is getting a baby brother after all?"

"No," JJ said quickly, panic rising. "I mean, it can wait a little while, yeah? Just until Liv is done with the doctor. Don't want her thinking you've run out on her as soon as you got the pictures."

"She knows we wouldn't do that," Sonny said in confusion. "She's not just some walking uterus for rent to us."

"I know that, you know that, but I think Liv's hormones are starting to get the better of her."

"I told you we should have stayed for the boring bit," Sonny said, turning to Will. "Maybe we should be in there with her."

"What? And have her know I told you? Trust me, that'd be worse. Look, just wait here and afterwards we can all go back and talk about stuff, OK?" JJ said. "Meanwhile I'm under orders to get back in there so..."

"Yeah, go," Sonny said. "And thanks. For telling us. You're a good friend."

"Yeah," JJ said, immediately feeling guilty.

"We should do something for them," Sonny said quietly to Will as JJ returned to Olivia. "Both of them."

"Yeah, like what?" Will asked, lining up his phone so he could take a picture of the sonogram.

"I don't know. A fancy dinner? Night away in a hotel?"

"That's our cousin and the woman carrying our baby, and you want to give them a night in a hotel?" Will laughed. "There's not a single thing about that sentence that doesn't inspire nightmares."

"I'm just saying, if she's feeling like all we care about is the baby, and her and JJ are as serious as they look? Then maybe we should do something to show her that we, you know, care about her too?"

"Dinner," Will said, setting the picture as the wallpaper on his phone. "Fancy dinner."

"I know just the place," Sonny said, pulling out his own phone and tapping out the number. "And send me that picture," he added with a laugh as he hit dial.

~~~

"So... any questions?"

Olivia shook her head and looked down at where her hand had been this whole time, secure in JJ's. Her head was spinning with the enormity of it all.

"How soon can we do it?" JJ asked.

"If we do the blood test, no reason why we can't do it this afternoon."

"I need to... we have to talk to them first," Olivia said. "They're going to need time to process this."

"They're outside if you want to do it now?" JJ asked.

"I don't know if I want to do it here," she whispered. "It's just..."

"There's no rush," the doctor said. "Paternity testing can be done at any time."

"We'll be in touch," JJ said, getting to his feet. He held out a hand to the doctor. "Thank you. You've been a great help."

"Will you tell the agency today?" Olivia asked, getting to her feet but keeping close to JJ, tucking herself in behind his arm.

"It'll be in my notes that I have to send off to them. My advice? Call them yourself. But that's me speaking, not as your doctor."

"Thank you," JJ said as he ushered Olivia towards the door.

Once out in the hallway they saw Will and Sonny waiting for them, excitedly examining each of the pictures that had been printed out. The disc in Olivia's bag seemed to weigh a ton now, making her hyperaware of what she was carrying around. With JJ's support she managed to walk down the corridor but she couldn't hide the expression on her face, prompting theirs to fall when the saw her.

"What's wrong?" Will asked, instinctively reaching out for her.

"Can we go somewhere to talk?" Olivia asked.

"What happened in there?" Sonny asked. He turned to JJ. "You said they were OK..."

"They are. I promise you. Liv's fine, the baby is fine. We just need to talk to you about something. In private."

"Why?" Will asked, his voice on the verge of breaking.

"Please?" Olivia asked, looking at him with tear-filled eyes. "Just... trust me on this. You don't want to do this in public."

Nervous for different reasons the two couples left the hospital.

~~~

"Are you sure you're OK?"

Sonny's glare told Will his answer.

"We can drive around for a little bit longer if you need to."

"Sure, we got enough gas to keep going for a couple of weeks?" Sonny bit. "How could they do this to us? How could she do this? There's a clause in her contract about abstinence; we should sue."

"And where would that get us, hmm?" Will asked, reaching out to Sonny. He withdrew his hand when Sonny recoiled in frustration.

"Why are you not angry at this?" Sonny yelled. "Why aren't you shouting and screaming about this? They _lied to us_ , Will. That may not be our kid."

"And it may be our kid," Will countered. "There's still a chance that it's our baby she's carrying. And once we do the test we'll know."

"JJ told me they were talking things slow, he couldn't have kept it in his pants for forty-eight more hours?"

Will couldn't help but laugh at that image, and even though Sonny glared at him he couldn't stop. That seemed to break the mood in the car and soon Sonny was shaking his head in resignation.

"I just... Everything was going as it should have been," Sonny said quietly.

"I know. But until we know for sure I don't see the point getting worked up about it all."

"How can you not? I just..."

"Want to scream?" Will said. "Go ahead. Get it all out of your system because really we have bigger problems."

"Bigger than the fact that the baby we have paid out a small fortune to have might not be ours?"

"Well, yeah," Will said. "Because in there is a four-year old little girl waiting not-so-patiently for pictures of the brother she thinks she's getting."

"Oh god," Sonny breathed. "What are we going to tell her? She's so excited. They all are." He bit his lip for a second. "JJ should be the one to tell them. He's the one—"

"No. Enough. We don't know what's going on and until we do we don't worry them."

"So what? We act like everything's normal?" Sonny asked. "What if it's not? How can we do that to Arianna? How can we tell her in one day that she's got the little brother that she wants, and then the next—"

"Sonny, Sonny, Sonny... Please." Will reached out across to him and put a hand on his knee. "Get out of the car."

"What?"

"Get out of the car."

Sonny did as he was bade, shutting the door behind him. He waited until Will had walked around to his side, putting his hands on either side of him before leaning in for a kiss.

"If anyone understands what it's like, it's me. When I slept with Gabi—"

"Not the same thing, Will. Not the same thing at all."

"But it is," Will protested. "We did it without thinking and we had to live with the consequences."

"You make Arianna sound like an issue."

"You know what I mean," Will whispered before he kissed Sonny again. "JJ was right. I screwed up and slept with Gabi, they did the same thing."

"Will, I—"

"I can't judge them, I just can't. All I can do is deal with what the situation is. And what is it? We don't know. We just... we don't know. And I can't change how I feel... that's _our son_ , Sonny. That's our baby. I have known that, felt that, from the moment we started this. I can't just... start thinking that he's not."

"I don't want to," Sonny whispered, his voice still breaking. "But I'm scared that if I don't start at least thinking it then if..." He pressed his forehead against Will's. "I can't do that if I'm going to lose him."

"We are not going to lose him," Will breathed. "I know it."

"How—"

"I knew from our first kiss, our _first_ kiss, that I was going to lose my heart to you. I knew the first time I told you I loved you that I would never say it to another man. I knew when you took me back after that night in the hospital that we were going to make it. I knew we were going to get married and I know that we are going to grow old together, spend our forevers together.

"I couldn't stop thinking about us having a boy, and now we are. I know, Sonny, I _know_ that he is ours. I feel it. When I saw him on that screen today? It was like I was looking at Arianna, it was that same feeling. It was exactly the same, Sonny. He's our son."

"I wish I had your confidence."

"Yeah, why don't you?" Will asked with a soft laugh. "Usually it's me having the doubts."

"When you were shot I couldn't... It was all I could think about. Losing you, not having you in my life."

"When Ari was sick though, you... you kept me going. I know you had your own fears, worries, but you kept me going. Let me help you."

"You shouldn't need to—"

"Hey." Will kissed him softly. "A marriage doesn't work like that and you know it. We don't work like that and you know it. What we need we provide. What support we need we give each other. We don't keep track, we don't keep score."

"So what do we do?"

"We keep going as if everything is as it should be. We go in there and we show our little girl her baby brother. And then we get this test done and we deal with the results when they come in."

"I love you."

"I know," Will grinned, pulling Sonny in and holding his head against his chest. "The only reason we got through everything up to this point is because you and me? We stand together. I need you to stand with me, Son."

"Always," Sonny mumbled into Will's chest before pulling back and kissing him gently. "OK. Let's go see our little girl."

~~~

"Do you hate me?"

Those four words were the first ones Olivia had spoken on the whole ride back to her home. Without even looking at her, without any hesitation, JJ replied, "I love you."

"That doesn't technically answer my question. I hate my ex but a part of me still loves him."

"No, I don't hate you."

"Your cousins—"

"Wait until the test."

"Can you... come in?" she asked as they pulled up outside. "I need you to see something."

"OK," he said. In silence he followed her up the path, waited while she unlocked the door, and then into the house. "Where's Lily?"

"With her dad," Olivia said, dropping her bag onto the couch. It fell off, the contents spilling onto the floor. She stooped to pick them up, stopping when she saw the DVD she'd failed to hand over. Again. "She lives with him. Full time. I get to see her on weekends for a few hours. That's why you only ever saw her when we were out; at the park, going for ice cream. She's not here with me because he... he took her."

"Liv..."

"I should have seen this coming. This is my life, JJ, I'm a fuck up. I always have been. I fell pregnant to a guy that I barely loved and we stumbled on for two years after she was born before he, not me, he was brave enough to call it quits. And because I did nothing with my life but get pregnant and have a kid he is the one with the job and the money and the family support and I get to see Lily every weekend.

"And then I see an ad for a surrogacy agency and because the only good thing I have done in my whole life is have a kid I think, 'why not?', why not do this. It's good money and I get to help good people and I do the one thing I did right.

"But I can't even do that. Because we got mugged and high on that I let my guard down and now I've screwed up—"

"This is not just your fault," JJ said. "I was there too, I was as involved that night as you were. I was the one who made a move—"

"I should have said no."

"I should have backed off, I knew you wanted to wait—"

"What if this is our kid, JJ? What if this is our son? What then?"

"Then we deal with that. I love you, Liv. I love you."

"I shouldn't be in this mess, I shouldn't. When I signed up for the agency they asked me, they asked me about my daughter and my partner and I said that they were still here with me. I lied to them, JJ, I lied to them and they never checked. And I was so sure that that psychiatrist woman was going to find me out but she didn't. And I thought that this was the Universe giving me a second chance. Telling me I could do this.

"I didn't want to feel like a failure, JJ. I just... I didn't want to screw up something else and yet I still managed it."

"Hey, hey, hey," JJ said, reaching out to her and guiding her to the couch. "You haven't screwed up."

"Feels like it."

"Liv, look at me," he said, his hands firmly turning her to look at him. "Look at me. You never once lied to me, I knew about Lily on that first day when we went for coffee. You told me, straight up, that you had a little girl and I stayed. I stayed because I wanted to spend time with the girl with the beautiful smile. Yeah, that one," he said when Olivia smiled in spite of herself. "You never hid her from me, never once made excuses for having had a life before me. You listened to all of my problems and never once judged me for my own screw ups.

"Neither of us is perfect. We have never claimed to be and yet here we are. I love you and you love me. And if this baby is ours then I swear to you that I will be there for you both. I swear it, OK?" He reached out and put his hand on her belly, fingers gently brushing the curve. "And if he's not? Then I'm still going to be here. Every step of the way, you hear me?"

"They hate me," she whispered.

"I know my cousins. They don't hate you. It's not who they are, it's not in their nature."

"But—"

"They're mad, they're upset, of course they are. But they don't hate you. They won't hate you, not even if this baby isn't—"

"Isn't theirs?" she asked. "So what will they do? Sit back and watch us raise the son they thought was theirs?"

"I don't know what's going to happen and neither do you."

"I know that I've made a mess of this," she sniffled, clasping her hands in her lap. When she looked down at them she saw the curve of her stomach and the wave of guilt washed over her anew. "I didn't want this."

"I know," he said, pulling her against him, "and they know it too. They know you, Liv, they couldn't sing your praises enough when they first started talking about you as their surrogate. Trust me. I've known them both pretty much my whole life. They will be OK."

"But—"

"It'll be OK," JJ hushed her, lifting her head up for a kiss. "I love you."

"Love you too," she said, curling up against his chest and not moving.

~~~

Adrienne noticed that the boys were subdued when they came home, but they weren't talking about it so she didn't. She watched them share the pictures of the baby with Arianna and laughed when she giggled and hugged her daddies in turn. She smiled when she refused to be put off the name Oscar and she distracted her with more ice cream when she saw the look on her sons' faces when Arianna talked about Oscar coming to live with them.

She didn't say anything, just kissed their cheeks when she said goodbye, held their hands, and made them promise to call if they needed anything.

She pretended not to notice that Sonny was fighting back tears and she stopped fighting her own as soon as the door was shut behind her. Because while she believed them when they had assured her that the baby was healthy, she knew that something was wrong.


	3. Chapter 3

"OK," Sonny announced as he came out of their room, "Ari is at day care until this afternoon, the managers have everything under control at the clubs. Our moms think we're having a romantic lunch, just the two of us, so they won't disturb us."

"My publisher has the latest revisions, sent this morning so she won't be back in touch before tomorrow morning," Will said, pulling the laptop screen down, "so in theory we're—"

"Off the grid?" Sonny asked.

"Guess so."

"One question."

"Shoot."

"Are you as terrified as I am?"

Will nodded and got out of his seat, crossing over to Sonny and wrapping his arms around his husband. "It's going to be OK. Whatever happens, it's going to be OK."

"I just... I can't..."

"We won't," Will said. "You kept telling me that we had to stay positive for Ari, we need to stay positive here."

"We don't know until we know."

"Exactly," Will said, pulling back from the hug. "Now, having said that did you have a chance to speak to your dad?"

"We're his three o'clock," Sonny said, "not that he knows it. I, um, I may have booked us in under a fake name."

"Isn't that usually reserved for dirty weekends away?" Will asked, raising his eyebrow.

"Next time," Sonny promised, giving him a quick kiss. "Come on, we'll be late."

"Sonny? It'll be OK. I promise."

"Love you."

"Love you too."

~~~

JJ and Olivia were already at the hospital waiting for them, sitting side by side, her hand clasped in his and resting in his lap. Will felt Sonny bristle beside him and so he reached out to grab his hand.

"Just breathe," Will whispered. "Just focus on what's important. We're here for our son, that's it."

"Hey," JJ said in greeting, getting to his feet when they approached. He instinctively held out a hand for Olivia and somewhere in the back of Will's mind he couldn't help but realise that clearly his cousin was in love. "Look, whatever happens—"

"We'll deal with it then," Sonny said sharply. "I... sorry."

"No, don't apologise," Olivia said. "I know this is... it's hell."

"Just a bit."

"For us too," she said. "The last thing I want to do is hurt you and you are not the only ones hoping and praying that the test shows this is your baby. Really. I want this to be your son and I want things to be as they were before."

"You think you can just apologise and we'll forget what you—" Sonny started, stalling only when Will yanked on his arm.

"OK, enough," Will said. "Can we stop squabbling long enough to find out whose baby it actually is before we start tearing strips off each other? Sonny, they made a mistake. They owned up to it, they are telling us everything and they are giving us the chance to find out."

"But—"

"Now if this were my _mom_ we were dealing with? We both know she'd say nothing and pass the baby off as yours and never know for certain. We'd go on raising him like he's ours and then one day we'd found out he wasn't and have to deal with that. Take it from someone who lived that; this is better.

"All this sniping and ill feeling cannot be good for Olivia or the baby, so can we just remember that right now? We don't know. And when we do we will deal with it, OK?"

"OK," Olivia said. "Please. I know this is hard, but— I'm sorry."

"You keep saying that," Sonny said quietly.

"That's because I am."

"We both are," JJ said. "You know how much I love you guys and if I had had any idea?"

"We know," Will said.

In the lull of the conversation they heard, "Jackson Kiriakis?" 

"Well. This is it," Will said. "Come on."

The four of them walked into the indicated office where the doctor was waiting for them. Olivia took one of the available seats, the men elected to stand.

"OK, I will keep this short and simple," the doctor said. "The results, as you know, are over 99% accurate, and the baby's DNA matches the sample provided by Sonny."

"So he's mine?" Sonny asked, feeling like he could finally breathe.

"Yes. The baby Olivia is carrying is the one implanted by the surrogacy clinic."

"Oh thank god," Will breathed, reaching out and pulling Sonny against him before he collapsed. "So that's it?"

"That's everything," the doctor said.

"You're sure?" Olivia asked, one hand resting on her belly while the other reached out for JJ.

"Over 99% probability means we're as certain as we can be. The DNA markers matched Sonny's sample, not JJ's. I know they're cousins and therefore share many markers but we can differentiate between them.

"My advice? Go home, get some rest. Try to move on from this. I'm sure you've all been stressing out these last few days over the results; it's important for baby that you're as rested and relaxed as possible."

"I can make sure she relaxes," JJ said. "For the rest of the day I will be her personal slave, she'll lift nothing heavier than a coffee mug. Decaf, of course."

"Sounds good to me," the doctor smiled. "So, unless there's anything else?"

"Do the agency get the results?" Olivia asked.

"They asked for a copy, yes."

"Have they been in touch?" Will asked her.

"Not yet. I jump every time the phone rings," she admitted.

"Which isn't helping her stress levels," JJ said.

"Look, as far as we're concerned all's well that ends well. The baby's fine, he's ours, we can just get through the next five months as normal, right?" Will asked.

"Right," Olivia said. She got up and turned to look at Sonny. "Sonny, I—"

"We need to go," Sonny said to Will, "don't want to be late for that appointment." Without waiting for Will's response he left, leaving the office door open behind him for Will to follow.

"Give him time," Will said to Olivia, leaning over to kiss her cheek. "He gets like this. He's mad for a bit, then he calms down, thinks about things, and then he's fine."

"It's true," JJ said, wrapping his arms around Olivia from behind. He rested his head on her shoulder before continuing. "Sonny is pretty much incapable of holding a grudge. Unless your name is Nick Fallon of course."

"Who?"

"Long story," JJ said, "and not the best one. Point is, Sonny is the guy who gets het up, blows off steam, then he's fine."

"We'll be in touch, try not to worry," Will said. "You?" he added, pointing to JJ. "Treat her right today."

"And every day afterwards," JJ said with a smile.

"I should get going," Will continued. "Please don't worry about Sonny or anything else, Olivia. Everything's going to be fine, I promise."

Olivia said nothing as he left, just put her hands over JJ's.

"Hey, did you feel that?" JJ exclaimed. "Wait, of course you did. Wow. Little man's got one hell of a kick on him."

"Yeah," she said quietly, "I know." 

~~~

For the most part Arianna sleeps through the night. She is a good sleeper, once she's down she's out and will usually only wake if she has a bad dream (of which there were many when Gabi 'went away'), or if there is an unusually loud noise.

Which meant that Will and Sonny had mastered the art of being quiet. Well, _quieter_.

They'd gone to bed as normal, reached for each other under the covers as normal, but then awake hands had found awake bodies and they'd kissed and fumbled and touched until Sonny was buried in Will who was trying to bite back his cries. At one point he reached out for a pillow, bringing it over his face until it was whipped away.

"I want to see," Sonny said before rolling his hips pointedly.

"You want me to wake Ari?" Will laughed, and then laughed again when he felt the way Sonny's body twitched over him.

"Stop that," Sonny half-laughed himself, "you know that's... unfair," he panted.

"Maybe," Will said, clenching on purpose this time, "but it's your fault."

"To want to see your face when we're making love?" Sonny asked, his voice dripping with sweetness.

Will laughed again; this time it was lost in Sonny's mouth. He wrapped an arm around Sonny's neck and held him close.

"God, I love you," Sonny moaned close to Will's ear.

"Glad to hear it," Will quipped, and this time it was Sonny who was laughing softly, pulling up slightly so he could kiss the grin off Will's face.

"You really know how to ruin the mood sometimes."

"Ruin it, huh?" Will said.

He moved his hands to Sonny's hips, pushing away slightly so he slipped out. Then, before there could be any objections, Will turned Sonny, pinning him to the bed beneath him. The turn was imperfect and so Sonny's head lolled on the edge of the mattress, but Will dived down for the kiss anyway.

"If I did then it's your fault," Will said, kissing the side of Sonny's neck, "seeing as you taught me everything I know."

"What?"

"You're the only man I've ever loved, the only one I will ever love. The only one I've been with. You're my first and I'm your last. We're our forevers."

He felt Sonny's hips thrust up to meet him but he just grinned and shifted out of reach.

"Will..." Sonny said, half in complaint, half in lust.

"You have done so much for me," Will said, putting his hands on Sonny's chest and pushing so he was kneeling astride Sonny's body, "so it only fair that I do something for you."

Reaching behind him he found Sonny's erection (after a little groping; of both the searching and the teasing variety) and eased himself onto it.

"How's the mood now?" Will asked.

"As good as the view," Sonny replied, prompting Will to laugh again.

Sonny's hips jerked up in response, his hands moving from Will's hips to his thighs, fingers splaying over the muscles as they worked along with the rest of Will's body. When Will put his hands over Sonny's he moved them so they were palm to palm, fingers interlocking for a few seconds before he pulled Will down.

"Hey," he whispered against Will's lips.

"What?"

"Nothin'," he grinned. "Just love you."

"Love you too," Will replied, "but I was busy."

"Oh, sorry. I'll let you get back on with what you were doing."

"Thanks, it's appreciated." Will kissed him gently, just once, before sitting back up. He loved this, loved they were like this. Soppy and sentimental and stupid and laughing in bed one minute, gasping for breath the next.

Of course Sonny wasn't the kind of person to sit back, ever, especially when they were in bed. Before too long Will was back on his back, holding Sonny to him in a stream of muttered adorations, and trying to keep the noise down without the aid of a pillow.

~~~

"I'm glad we're not, you know, falling into that old married trap," Sonny said, his breathing still quick and heavy.

"What trap?"

"Boring sex life," Sonny laughed.

"Never gonna happen," Will laughed. "I don't think I can move."

"That good, huh?"

"Always is," Will said, turning his head to face Sonny. "I mean, even with my limited frame of reference—"

"Oh no, I _am_ that good," Sonny quipped, his hand finding Will's between them.

"Thought so."

"Just, promise me we'll still do this when the baby comes?"

"What? Spend half the night screwing?"

"You make it sound so cheap and tacky," Sonny half complained.

"Well, you know the chances of us having much of a sex life soon after the birth will be small, right?"

"So long as it's because he's up every two hours and not—"

"Because I've been shot?" Will finished.

"That'd be preferable."

"Is it weird that I'm looking forward to those two am feeds?"

"Yes," Sonny said quickly.

"Shut up," Will said, moving their joined hands so he could hit Sonny with his own hand. "It's just Gabi did a lot of them, and I was kinda out of it for those first few days... I just want to be hands on right from the start."

"You will be. We both will be. You're an amazing dad, Will, you will be with—"

"Oscar?" Will laughed.

"Where on earth did she get that name from?"

"I don't know, but we're agreed that it's the only name he's _not_ getting, right?"

"Well, I'm not exactly voting for Nick either."

"That was a given. Look, whatever you come up with I'll love."

"Me?" Sonny asked. "Why do I get naming rights?"

"He's—"

"You dare say he's _my_ son and I'll hit you," Sonny threatened. "He's ours and you know it."

"I know, but you didn't get a say in Arianna Grace—"

"Neither did you," Sonny pointed out, "so it's a good reason for us to come up with a name. Together."

"Thank god we have five months to argue what goes well with Kiriakis then."

"Horton," Sonny corrected.

"Wait, why does he get my surname?"

"Because Ari does. Because we are not raising two kids with different surnames."

"So three of us are Hortons and you're out in the cold? Not happening, Kiriakis."

"Kiriakis-Horton?" Will offered. "Seeing as he's going to be _our_ son?"

"You really want to go down the route of double barrelling?"

"How did we not have this discussion before now? We've been married for over three years and we're still Will Horton and Sonny Kiriakis."

"Because it never mattered," Sonny said, kissing the back of Will's hand. "Does it matter now?"

"I don't know," he admitted. "Maybe? I mean it's important enough for you to want him to be a Horton."

"Can I tell you something?" Sonny asked, shuffling a little so he was sitting upright against the cushions.

"Always," Will said, not moving except to look up at him.

"When Ari was born you went out of your way to make sure that I felt like we were a family, that she was something, _someone_ to me. I felt like I was her dad, loved her like she was mine, and that was down to you and how you... let me be a part of her life."

"Let you?" Will asked.

Sonny said nothing, just reached over and grabbed the iPad from the bedside table. He pulled up a screen and handed it over to Will.

" _Confessions of a Second First Time Father_ ," Will read. "What is this?"

"A blog," Sonny said.

"This is... you're keeping a blog?"

"Yeah. It was just my way of, I don't know, expecting this baby. I know it was different with Ari for so many reasons but I... I started this the day we got the positive pregnancy test. I was so excited and happy and it felt like there was nothing on this earth greater than that. Then we came home and Ari ran up to me and..."

"You felt guilty," Will said, already skimming that first entry. "Sonny, why didn't you tell me any of this?"

"Because, as you will see, I knew I was being stupid. I knew that feeling like that about a second child didn't mean I didn't love Ari any less. I just kept reading more into things and wondering if I was feeling this way because he's mine biologically."

"Is this why you're so keen for him to have the Horton name?" Will asked. "Like you're giving me something?"

"No. It's me saying that we're one family, all four of us. You're my family and Ari's my family and he's my family. And blood is just a footnote in all of that."

"Why are you showing me this now?"

"Thought it would make a nice final post," Sonny said. "I've not gone into detail on there about... what happened, but I don't—"

"No, you should keep this going," Will said. "Sonny, you've got guys from all over the country reading this. And not just gay guys either."

"You think?"

"What we're doing, what we're going through? Having a family this way, the whole blood thing – which you know I don't care about – and the questions that raises? This isn't just happening to us. We both know how many people end up raising kids that aren't theirs by blood, but where it matters," he said, moving his free hand to rest on Sonny's chest as best he could, "they are their children. Arianna is yours and he is mine. You're mine."

"And you're mine," Sonny whispered, leaning over to kiss Will gently. "You don't mind?"

"Why would I mind?"

"Well you're the writer in this family. If anyone should be documenting the pregnancy then it should be you."

"The fact that I am a writer is exactly the reason why I shouldn't," Will laughed. "You're a lot more honest and natural about this than I could be. Which, incidentally, is exactly what I told my publisher when she asked if I would write a column on it."

"She didn't?"

"She did."

"Hey, maybe we should write a book instead," Sonny said, lying back down next to Will. "Real life story about two guys trying to have a child, about fake deaths and muggings and blood tests."

"It's got best seller written all over it," Will laughed, dropping the iPad carefully onto the floor. He turned onto his side and rested a hand on Sonny's cheek. "But you need a good ending. How do you know where to take the story if you don't know what the ending is?"

"Oh, I have an idea about that too," Sonny grinned.

"Yeah? Do tell."

"It's more of a show, actually."

"Son," Will whined playfully, "you know I love you but I need more time to recover."

"One track mind," Sonny laughed, grabbing at Will and holding him down as he rolled on top of him. 

~~~

"But _where_ are we going?" Will asked.

Sonny laughed as he indicated for the exit, easing out of the rush of traffic. "Why is it is that our four-year old daughter can accept 'it's a surprise' but you can't?"

"Because she's clearly a better person than me," Will said. "That, and you bribed her with a new book." Will turned around to look at Ari, still engrossed in the pictures of her new possession. "Aren't you curious, baby?"

"Yes," she said, "but Papa says I'll see soon."

"I don't believe it," Will muttered, sitting properly in his seat. "That is not my child. That is not natural for a four-year old."

"Clearly takes after her papa," Sonny joked as he turned off into a side street.

For the first time Will took in where they were; not quite a leafy green suburb but close enough, with houses set back from the road with nicely kept gardens between the fence and the porch. A little further down from where Sonny was pulling up a group of children were taking advantage of the beautiful Saturday morning and had set up some kind of ball game that was, at this distance, indeterminate.

Will unclipped his belt and got out of the car, his head turning to follow the sound of rustling leaves and the happy shouts of kids at play. Someone, somewhere, was mowing a lawn and for half a second Will expected the next sound to be a bicycle bell.

"I don't understand," Will said. "Where are we?"

"Come on," Sonny replied, holding out his free hand. The two of them walked a little way down the sidewalk, Ari skipping happily beside Sonny (book still clutched in her free hand), until they were standing outside a house. It looked like any of the others, no indication why Sonny had chosen it as he led them up to the front door. "You want to push it?" he asked Ari, lifting her up so she could press the bell chime. Throughout the house they heard the music playing, closely followed by a sharp bark.

"Puppy!" Ari giggled, just as the door was opened.

The woman who greeted them barely had chance to say hi before the Goldendoodle was at her heels, tongue lolling as it looked excitedly from one visitor to the next. Ari reached out for him and before anyone had a chance to react he had bounded out and was leaping up at her in greeting.

Ari squealed in shock and she recoiled, stumbling backwards and falling at Sonny's feet. At the woman grabbed at the dog's collar Sonny picked Ari up, settling her on his hip as she wrapped her arms around his neck.

"He's harmless, I promise," the woman said, "just wanted to say hi."

"Guess we're not getting you a puppy then," Will said, his hand resting protectively on his daughter's back.

"Sit!" the woman commanded the still-straining dog at her heels. "Oscar, sit." The dog obeyed, waiting there until they were joined by a man. "Take him out back, will you?" she asked. "I'm so sorry, he's so good with kids."

"It's fine, don't worry," Sonny said. "Helen? I'm Sonny, we spoke this morning? This is my husband, Will, and our daughter Arianna."

"Hey, sweetie," the woman said. "I'm sorry if Oscar scared you. He just wanted to say hi, that's all."

"He really big," Ari mumbled into Sonny's shoulder.

"He still thinks he's a puppy sometimes and tries to jump up like he used to," she said. "But he's in the back yard now so you can come in if you'd like?"

"Are we going in, Papa?" she asked.

"Well, how else are you going to see which room you'd like for your bedroom?" Sonny asked.

"What?" Will was the one to respond. "Sonny, what's going on?"

"We're here to look at the house," Sonny replied, stepping across the threshold with Ari still in his arms.

Dumbfounded, all Will could do was follow.

"As I said to the agent, I'm happy to show you around," Helen said once they were inside and Ari was finally brave enough to set her feet on the floor again. "She said that the house would probably go quickly but we didn't expect it to be this fast!"

"It went on the site yesterday morning," Sonny said to Will, as if that explained everything, "and I booked us in when we got back from the hospital."

"I'm getting a brother," Ari chimed in, already starting to walk away from them, "but I don't like Oscar anymore."

"It was her request for the name," Sonny explained off Helen's confused look.

"Daddy!" Ari exclaimed suddenly. "Big TV!"

"I don't think it comes with the house, sweetie," Will laughed, stepping into the open plan living area where there was indeed a very large TV mounted on one wall.

"Get one," Ari declared.

"Such a wonderful child," Sonny laughed.

"How old is she?" Helen asked.

"Four," Sonny replied.

"Oh it only gets better," Helen quipped, and right on cue there came a thundering of footsteps down the spiral staircase towards the back of the room. "Careful!" she called out, her tone betraying how many times she'd said that and been ignored. 

The thundering stopped when two kids, a young boy and his big sister, realised they had strange people standing in their home.

"Oh, hey," the boy said. "Sorry, Mom."

"Sorry, Mom," his sister chimed in.

"Guys, this is Sonny, Will and Arianna," Helen introduced.

Arianna gave them a small wave and a big grin. "I like your TV."

"It's awesome, isn't it?" the boy said. "Dad hooked up the games console and we get to play every Saturday."

"Wanna watch?" the girl offered. "You can be on my team if you want."

"The losing team," her brother teased. "You always come off the edges of the track."

"You push me off!"

"Prove it."

"And this is what we have to look forward to," Will muttered to Sonny.

"Can I, Daddy? Please, Papa?" Ari asked.

"You two need to be nice and share," Helen said. "Be good hosts."

"Yes, Mom," they chorused.

"Come on, I'll give you the grand tour while they babysit," Helen grinned. "They're usually good for half an hour of friendly play before the real competition sets in. Amy more than Joe."

"I can't believe you," Will hissed to Sonny as Helen started to move away from him. "You did this without telling me?"

"Just do me a favour and have a look, OK? You can yell at me later," Sonny whispered.

At the back of the open plan living room there was a short passageway which led into a fully equipped kitchen. Helen's husband Arthur had just come back in from the garden, and there were formal introductions and more apologies. Oscar, now relegated to his stake in the back yard, looked forlorn and regretting his earlier excitement.

After a quick glance at all the usual utilities, Helen led them back out and towards the spiral staircase. They could hear the playful cheers of happy game play, Arianna's voice just as loud and as excited as Amy and Joe's.

The stairs opened onto a landing; to the left were four rooms. Two bedrooms and a playroom for the children, as well as their bathroom. To the right were another three: a small office space that had been carefully designed that not a single inch was wasted, and the open windows and skylight flooded the room with natural light; a guest room with facilities; and the most decadent master suite that Will had ever seen.

"OK, wow," he couldn't help but say as he saw the French doors which opened onto a small balcony.

"You've seen the house, you can yell at me now," Sonny said.

"We'll give you guys a minute," Helen said, ushering Arthur out and back downstairs where the noise from the children was getting louder.

"No, no yelling," Will said. "I just... this is our home, Sonny. I can actually see us here. Me writing and Ari playing with... not-Oscar down the hallway. And a big TV for us all to watch movies on every Saturday with fresh popcorn we made in that kitchen. And maybe not a Goldendoodle, maybe a smaller dog running about the place. And you and me, having coffee on that balcony while the kids play in the garden.

"This... this is our home, Sonny."

"Knew you'd like it," Sonny grinned.

"But there's no sign up."

"It only went on the site yesterday, but they're not moving out for another three months. They're having a house built and just wanted to start the ball rolling to sell this one. Three months suits us as—"

"It gives us two months before the baby's born."

"Turn one of the rooms into a proper little nursery for him," Sonny grinned. "I just... I loved this place on the site, but coming here? Seeing you two here?"

"Are we doing this?" Will asked. "Are we buying this house?"

"I think so. If you're happy about moving away from Salem that is."

"Oh geez, let me think about that. Do we really want to move a forty minute drive away from our overbearing and interfering families?"

"Forty minutes away from on-tap babysitters—"

"Who we rarely need," Will pointed out. "I write at home, you do most of the club management from home. We are totally those parents who are at home for the kids."

"And there are some great schools nearby, pre-schools and elementaries. And most of the kids in the neighbourhood get the bus to an excellent high school."

"You've really done your research on this, haven't you?" Will laughed, pulling Sonny in closer.

"We don't need to make a decision today—"

"But?" Will prompted.

"But if we made them an offer now we'd get a good deal."

"We can afford this, right?" Will asked.

"Of course we can."

"No, I mean _we_ can afford this? It's bad enough we took money from Mom for the surrogacy, but—"

"Will, I promise you. Every cent that we will pay for this house will be ours."

"This house," Will repeated. "We're... we're buying a house."

"Yeah, we are," Sonny grinned, pulling Will in the last of the distance for a kiss.

~~~

They agreed a price, a deposit to take the house off the market, and arranged for contracts to be drawn up, the agent saying she'd have them sent over the next day. The three month waiting period suited them both; the completion date was set for exactly six weeks before the baby's due date, allowing plenty of time on both sides for moves to be organised and completed. When it came time to go Arianna was not happy at having to say goodbye to her new friends, but she said goodbye to her house as they left much to everyone's amusement.

It wasn't until they were back in their Salem apartment, which suddenly felt a few sizes too small for them, that they realised they'd both had their phones switched off all morning. The fact that as soon as they were back on they both buzzed with an urgent message from Justin, asking them to see him as soon as possible, that their happy little bubble was burst.

~~~

Justin looked from the boys' worried faces down to Arianna's grinning one as she brandished her book for him.

"What you got there, princess?" he asked, dropping down to her level.

"New book. Papa gave it me," she said. "Has some big words in but I can learn them."

"I bet you can, clever girl like you," he said. "Tell you what. This is Jane," he said, indicating his secretary, "and she knows all kinds of big words. I'm sure she can help you learn them while I talk with your daddies?"

"You know all the words?" Arianna asked Jane, half in suspicion, half in awe.

"Your granddad Justin tells me I'm the smartest person he knows," Jane smiled, "so I bet I do."

"But I'm smart too!" Arianna protested.

"Oh, well then. Maybe he said second smartest?" Jane corrected. "How about we have a look at that book and see?"

Arianna climbed up onto the leather couch and waited until Jane was sitting next to her before opening her book and starting to read out loud. For a moment Will and Sonny watched her, partly unable to tear themselves away out due to pride and love, partly because whatever Justin was about to tell them it couldn't be good.

"Well, bit of both, really," Justin said once they were inside his office and he answered their expressions. "Bad news is that your surrogacy contract is... well, void."

"Because she slept with JJ?" Will asked as they took their seats. "That's a bit extreme."

"It would be, it's not that," Justin said. "They wouldn't tell me all the details, they said they'd explain everything to you in detail, but the simple fact is that Olivia didn't meet the requirements for the surrogacy program. She misrepresented herself and so any contract signed as a result of that is automatically null and void."

"How did she misrepresent herself?" Will asked.

"One of the conditions is that the surrogate is already raising a child. When Olivia applied for the program she had a partner and a daughter, but by the time you guys signed the contract the partner had moved out, taking Lily with him."

"That's it?" Will said. "They screw up our contract because she's no longer the primary carer for her daughter? This is stupid, there's more to it than that. She passed all the health checks, the psych test—"

"Actually, she didn't," Justin said. "She failed the psych."

"No, she did. We have copies."

"Oh she was certified but she shouldn't have been," Justin explained. "When her... indiscretion came to light to agency went through everything with a fine tooth comb. They had Olivia's file reviewed and some concerns were raised about the psychological profile that was done of her. All of the surrogacy interviews are recorded, the actual sessions with the psychologist are private, but based on her answers to some of the questions the reviewer couldn't understand why she'd been passed.

"So they read through the notes made during the sessions and... well. End result is that the psychiatrist has been suspended for gross misconduct and—"

"The contract is null and void," Will finished. "I take it that's the bad news?"

"The good is that we can still salvage this situation. You said that Olivia is still willing to hand the baby over to you, and she still can. The paperwork at the other end is a little different as in the eyes of the law she is now the baby's mother. But seeing as we have proof that Sonny's the father then it's just a case of putting his name on the birth certificate, and after forty two days you can legally adopt him."

"Is there anything we can do in the meantime? Some paperwork that we can get her to sign?"

"That's tricky," Justin said. "Seeing as we have evidence that she should not have been deemed mentally fit for surrogacy, I'd be wary of asking her to sign anything that states she will hand over the child to you when he's born."

"Why? I mean, she wanted him to be ours, just as much as we did. She kept saying that she hated that she'd screwed up and—"

"I know, Will, I know. But the simple fact is that at any point between now and forty two days after the birth she is legally within her rights to keep that baby she's carrying. And without knowing the details of why she would have failed the psych test I'd be wary of even letting her know that possibility exists."

"Are you saying that she may want to keep him?"

"I'm saying we don't know what her state of mind is, and as your lawyer my advice is don't bring it up. You know what Arianna's like. If she knows there's ice cream—"

"Then it's all she wants for dinner," Will finished.

"So don't tell her there's ice cream."

"So we sit back and do nothing? Hope for the next five months? Cross our fingers that she doesn't just call us up one day and say she's keeping the baby?"

"If it would make you feel better, we can start to treat this like a closed adoption," Justin said. "We can go through the paperwork and outline the processes to her. Just reinforce the idea that you two are committed to raising this child."

"Yes. That. Let's do that," Will said. "But just... without the pressure?"

"Exactly," Justin said. "Look, Will. It's my job as your lawyer to consider all possibilities, including the worst case scenarios. There is every possibility that this is just a bump in the road."

"Another bump," Sonny said, his voice breaking into the conversation for the first time. "It's just a bump, Dad, it's another one. First it was the money, then it was the appointment I had. Then turns out the surrogate is sleeping with our cousin and we don't know if the baby is mine or not. He is, but now he's also hers and she could get to keep him because some fucking psychologist didn't bother to do their job properly and now my whole life, my whole family, is once again being turned upside down.

"I never wanted kids. Never. And I put part of that down to me being gay, I mean – when I would I be near a woman? And that was OK, I was fine with not having a family. But then I fell in love with Will and Arianna came along and now I can't imagine not being a father. I can't imagine not having her in my life and all I wanted, all we wanted, was another child. Something that so many people can just do without having to think about it.

"And I know you get this, Dad, of course I do. I know that you and Mom... I know you two had your dramas with my brothers but this feels like... like the universe is telling me that I don't get to have this. That I'm not supposed to be a father, that I can't have my own kid."

"I do understand," Justin said. "Your mother and I... We never thought that we would have you. We never thought that we'd have a child of our own but you surprised us all. We adore your brothers, you know that, just as much as we love you. You surprised us, Sonny, and you've been doing that ever since. When I look at you you're proof that things don't always go the way that you think they will.

"We didn't think we'd have a child that was biologically ours, but there you are. We didn't think you would be anything but, well... straight. The idea never crossed our minds. But you still came out to us when you were fifteen. We never dared hope we'd see the day when you would have the right to marry, that you would have the chance and the means to be a father yourself but look at your life, Sonny. Look at everything that you are and where you've come from.

"You have always, _always_ show me that there is another way of thinking, another way of approaching a problem. And that's what this is: a problem."

"A pretty big one, Dad," Sonny said quietly.

"I don't like to brag but I'm pretty good at what I do," Justin said with a small smile, "and if that wasn't enough incentive that is my grandson she is carrying. I want to see him with you two almost as much as you do. So you can bet that if there's anything I can do to make that happen then I will do it.

"And at the risk of telling you something you already know, Sonny. You are a father. You have been for years. I remember watching you in the hospital when Arianna was sick and how you didn't even think twice about going in for that operation. It didn't matter to you what the risks were, or what was involved. All you knew was that you had the chance to save her life and so you did it."

"But—"

"I'm not done," Justin said firmly. "You refused to give up on her and you supported Will and Gabi through what was probably the worst few weeks of their lives. Then you supported Will through Gabi going to jail, and you have helped that little girl come to terms with losing her mom in a way that I will be proud of until the day that I die and probably a long time after that.

"The Sonny Kiriakis I know, the Sonny Kiriakis we love? He doesn't give up. He gets knocked back, sure, but then he finds a way to make it happen. I know you, so does Will. Don't you dare sit there and think that the universe hates you and that it doesn't want you to be a father. Because you already are to Arianna and you will be to that little boy, do you hear me?"

"Yes, Dad," Sonny mumbled, suddenly feeling eight years old again.

"You are not losing him, do you hear me?" Justin said gently. "I won't let it happen, Will won't let it happen, and I daresay you won't let it happen."

"I just... We bought a house, Dad. Today. That's where we were. It's perfect and we love it and it's for our family."

"Good," Justin smiled. "Look, the odds are that Olivia will still continue with this as planned. She'll hand over the baby when he's born and you'll move into the house and this time next year we'll all look back on this and—"

"Laugh?" Sonny quipped.

"Wonder why we were so worried," Justin corrected. "I can set up a meeting with Olivia if you want to outline the adoption process?"

"Please," Will said, taking Sonny's hand in his and giving it a reassuring squeeze.

"It'll be OK," Justin said, getting up and walking around the desk. He put a hand on Sonny's shoulder. "Do you need some time?"

"Please," Will answered for them.

"I'll go relieve Jane then," Justin said, "spend some time with my beautiful granddaughter."

Once they were alone Will lifted Sonny's hand and held it against his own chest. "Your dad's right," he said. "All of it. I know that it seems like all we've done this week is have knock after knock, but look at where we are, Sonny. Look at our lives. Five, ten years ago neither of us could have been here but now?"

"This isn't about that," Sonny said quietly.

"No. It's about the fact that this is another thing to deal with," Will said. "I know you. I know that all you want is for us to be happy and this isn't. I know that all you want to do is spend the next five months getting the house ready and having no argument more serious than over names. I know that you want us to focus on getting ready for our son's birth, not hoping that we get to be there.

"I know that you're worried about me, about Arianna, about everyone involved in this mess. I know that you are starting to think about ways to protect us from further harm and I know that you know as parent the only way to do that is to not actually have kids. But we have them, Sonny. We have a daughter and we have a son. And we will do anything for either of them. I will do anything for you." He reached out and brushed the back of his fingers against Sonny's cheek before holding his chin and turning his face to look at him. "Tell me what you want me to do."

"I just want us to be a family," Sonny whispered. "And the idea that we might not—"

"Not gonna happen," Will said confidently. "We have no reason to suspect that it won't. You heard Olivia, she wanted the baby to be ours, she kept thinking she'd screwed up. She won't want to keep him."

"It doesn't... I know you and Dad are right, I know that logically she... But I can't help feeling that..." He let his eyes drift shut and tilted his head into Will's hand. "I don't think it's going to be that simple."

"Well, I for one think you're wrong," Will laughed softly. He leant over and kissed the tip of Sonny's nose. "We're going to be OK. We are going to be a family. I saw it, remember? Before you went in for the operation? You, us, and a little boy. A boy with your dark hair and dark eyes and I will never be able to say no to him and he will be perfect. Our family will be perfect and we are going to sit on that balcony and drink coffee and watch our children play in the garden. OK?"

"OK," Sonny whispered.

"Olivia wouldn't do that to us. JJ wouldn't do that to us. Same destination just... different route," Will said with a soft laugh. When Sonny opened his eyes in confusion Will said, "Growing up I wanted to be a husband and a father. And I am. Just... not quite in the way I thought I would be. Same destination, different route."

"I don't know what I'd do without you—"

"You have me," Will said, leaning over to hug Sonny as best he could in the chairs, "you will always have me."

"Thank you," Sonny whispered.

"For what?"

"Being the strong one. I know I usually—"

"You say that like you're not allowed to need help," Will said, his fingers threading through Sonny's hair. "We do this together, we get through this together. And we help and support each other as needed. OK?"

"OK."

~~~

Will looked up just as the bottle appeared into view.

"Think we've earned it," Sonny said.

"I saw you writing earlier," Will said, popping the cap off the bottle and taking the first swig of beer. "The blog?"

"Yeah."

"Are you...?"

"You can read it, I'm not stopping you."

"No, it's yours and I don't want you thinking that I'm reading over your shoulder or anything. I just wondering if you were—"

"Talking about everything that's going on? I thought about it. But I don't know where this is going to go, legally I mean, and being the son of a lawyer? I know better than to open my mouth."

"OK."

"But I mean it, Will. Read it if you want."

"It's OK," he said. "I've been doing my own research anyway."

"Yeah?"

"Mainly private surrogacy cases where the mom decided to keep the baby. Most of the time the original agreement was honoured except in cases where there were serious concerns about the baby's welfare."

"Most of the time—"

"OK, no, we are not going down that route again," Will said, crossing over to the couch and sitting beside Sonny, curling his legs up under him. "Don't."

"OK, fine. Let's change the subject," Sonny said, his hand resting on Will's knee.

"Sounds good. What to?"

"Who's going to tell our parents where the new house is?"

~~~

Jane showed Olivia, JJ and an unknown man into the room; even without the introductions they realised the man must be their lawyer. Made sense, having someone else to look over the paperwork and make sure everything was above board. He shook hands with Justin and clearly from the way they started up a conversation they had dealt with each other before, again this was nothing to worry them.

No, what worried Sonny was the way that neither JJ nor Olivia would look them in the eye. Their glances were fleeting and nothing in their facial expression or body language gave him any comfort. It was almost as if the universe were tapping on Sonny's shoulder and whispering in his ear: _not going to be a father_.

"So, in light of events," Justin began, "a simple closed adoption is the best way forward for all parties. This is standard paperwork stating that my clients will support Olivia throughout the rest of her pregnancy and up to three months after the birth for any issues that may arise or any support that she may need, something they insisted on and you won't find in any another adoption agreement."

"Very generous," the other lawyer said, "but there is a matter that we need to discuss first."

"Go on."

"The way the law stands at the moment, the baby that my client is carrying is hers. Without the surrogacy contract she—"

"I'm aware of that," Justin cut across, "which is why we are going for adoption—"

"But it changes the game a little," the lawyer interrupted in return. "When my client had no link to the baby it was easy to... detach. But after being unsure of the baby's paternity, well, maternity as well? It changed how my client views this pregnancy."

 _Not going to be a father_ , came that whispered voice again as Sonny kept his gaze fixed on Olivia. She was staring down at her clasped hands, one of JJ's over them in a sign of support.

"Put simply, she has bonded with the child."

"It's not her child though," Sonny said, still looking at Olivia. "He's mine. She has no biological link to—"

"That's not what matters in the eyes of the law, Mr Kiriakis," the lawyer said. "As the woman carrying the child to term, she is his mother."

"I'm his father."

"And those rights will be recognised once the baby is born, my clients are prepared to discuss access and visitation and—"

" _Access_?" Sonny snapped. "No, this is not happening."

"Sonny," Justin warned.

"No, Dad. No. That is my son, mine and Will's. You cannot keep him, Olivia, you can't."

"There's no law now which says she must give him up," her lawyer said calmly. "If she chooses to keep the child then she has the support of the law."

"I have that support too," Sonny growled. "No wonder you can't even look at me. You know what you're doing is cruel and wrong, don't you?"

"I'm sorry," Olivia said, raising her head for a moment. When she caught Sonny's gaze and saw the anger burning there she dropped it again. "When I thought he could be mine, mine and JJ's, I... I just kept thinking what it would mean if he was. And I swear to you at the time I didn't want him to be."

"So what changed?" Will asked quietly.

"Everything," she whispered, looking over at JJ. "When I told JJ it could be ours he was supportive and wonderful and he made me realise that it wouldn't be the worst thing if the baby was ours. And when the test came back that he wasn't... I was upset."

" _You_ were upset?" Will asked. "You? Do you know what that did to us? You took the one thing we want the most, the one dream we have, and you threatened to take it away from us. And when we got to keep it you were... upset?"

"Will," JJ warned, "this isn't helping."

"No, what's not helping is being told that you're keeping _our_ baby," Will said, turning his rising anger onto his cousin. "How can you support her in this?"

"Because I love her," JJ said. "You'd support Sonny—"

"Not in stealing someone else's baby," Will retorted.

"Well that's what you want to do here."

"It's not her baby!" Will practically yelled. "If you want to get into the details of it he's not even mine! That baby belongs to Sonny and an egg donor and that's it. How does she get more rights over the child than I do?"

"Because I'm the one carrying him," Olivia said. "I feel him move, kick, turn over. I'm the one who's awake half the night because he's asleep."

"And why does that mean you get to keep him?" Will asked. "Why does that mean you get to take him away from us?"

"Because I love him," Olivia said quietly. "I do. I love him like I loved Lily at this stage. I love him like he's mine and—"

"He's not," Sonny finished quietly. "He's not yours. He's ours. He was always meant to be ours and just because you feel all the things you do just because you happen to be carrying him shouldn't give you some kind of special right over us. He's not yours but you love him. So does Will. Why isn't he taken into account here?"

"Mr Kiriakis—" the lawyer began.

"She is sitting there telling me that she's keeping my son, I swear to god if you tell me to be quiet I will—"

"Enough!" Justin interrupted before his son could say anything stupid.

"We'll fight," Sonny promised. "I am not having visitation rights, I am having my son. You want to try and keep him? Good luck getting the support of a court. We're married and raising a daughter—"

"Whose mom is in jail," the lawyer interrupted.

"Nothing to do with us, and I think you'll find that Ari is doing really well in spite of that. I think her pre-school teacher called it a 'testament' to our parenting skills?" Sonny said. "We have a great income between us and are home pretty much all the time. We have an extended family—"

"So do I," JJ pointed out. "And while I may not be Kiriakis rich I have a steady job with a good income. I can support them."

"Right. The former junkie and the woman who failed a psych test," Sonny bit.

"And I think we're done," Justin said quickly, gathering his papers up.

"We'll be in touch," the lawyer said, getting to his feet and offering his hand.

"I expect so," Justin said, ignoring it pointedly.

"That was in the past and you know it," JJ snapped back at Sonny. "I've moved on from that."

"What about Olivia?" Sonny asked. "She moved on from her break up? Losing Lily? Lying to the surrogacy agency? Breaking the contract—"

"Son—" Will said, trying to get his husband's attention.

"No, Will. No. You have all been telling me to not act like I'm going to lose my son so now I'm not. If they want a fight they will have one. If they think that they are taking _my_ son away from me then they have another think coming."

"Sonny, enough," Will said, his hand gripping Sonny's arm tightly. "Not another word."

"You'd be wise to listen to your husband," the lawyer said as he ushered JJ and Olivia out of the room.

"How can you both just sit there and—" Sonny began.

"Because yelling just makes noise," Justin said. "And you'd be wise to not get so wound up in future."

"Really, Dad? You didn't get 'wound up' when—"

"I'm not saying that," Justin cut across. "I'm just saying that when it comes to court you know that there cannot be a single thing against you."

"They're not taking him," Will said. "I promise you. They are not taking him from us."

"You said this wouldn't happen, you both said this wouldn't happen," Sonny said, pushing back his chair and starting to pace the room in distress. "You said—"

"I said that you are not losing him," Justin said, "and I meant it. This is far from over, Sonny."

"We can't lose him, Will. We can't." Sonny's voice had dropped to a whisper and within seconds Will was upon him, wrapping him up tightly in his arms.

"We won't," Will promised him.

~~~

Will just shook his head when he opened the door to see Justin and Adrienne standing there. "I don't know what to do."

"Where is he?" Adrienne asked.

"He took Ari to the park. I think he wanted to spend some time with her."

"We don't need to do this now," Justin said, "we can—"

"No, we need to start this now. I need... We have to do something. They can't just keep him, can they?"

"Technically speaking, yes they can," Justin sighed. "Without the agreement she is legally his mother. But we can fight."

"We have to fight," Will said. "That is... he's our son, Justin. We have to—"

"We will."

"No visitation, no shared custody. He is ours and he has to come home. I know I should think about her and about JJ but... I can't, Justin. I can't. I look at Sonny and I see what this is doing to him and I know what it's doing to me."

"You know this is not going to be an easy fight," Justin said.

"I know," Will said, glancing over at Adrienne.

"If Jennifer wants to side with her son then that's her choice. I choose my son. I choose my boys." She reached out and put a hand on his arm.

"Dad's already upset her by... _suggesting_ that she consider me in all of this," Will said. "Of all the things that our family, our families have gone through over the years. All the fights and affairs. The lies and secrets. The dramas and the heartache and the arrests. This is really what's going to divide us, isn't it?"

"Don't worry about that," Adrienne said, "you just need to focus on your family."

"Thank you," Will said, allowing himself to smile a little. "I—" He stopped when he heard the door open, and the three of them turned to see Sonny ushering a very upset little girl into the apartment. "What happened?" Will asked, dropping to his knees and opening his arms to Ari.

"I fell," Ari sniffled. "My knee hurts."

"She's fine, just a few cuts and scrapes," Sonny said.

"Papa made it better."

"Yeah, he does that," Will said, giving Ari a hug.

"Will he be able to stop the baby from crying?" she asked suddenly.

"What?"

"The baby. He'll cry. Will Papa be able to help him?"

Will looked up at Sonny and could see the facade that he'd put on, the attempt at a brave face. "Yes," he said decisively. "He will. When you were a baby sometimes Papa would be the only one you wanted. Not me, not your mom. You'd cry until he'd picked you up and rocked you to sleep. You'd see him walk into the room and you'd reach out for him. And so I know," Will continued, turning back to Arianna, "that when the baby comes home? Papa will be able to help him when he's crying."

"Good," Ari said. "It's not nice being sad." 

"No," Will said, gathering her up into a hug, "it's not."

"Don't need to ask why you're here," Sonny said, greeting his parents with quick hugs.

"You didn't miss anything," Justin said, "we just—" He stopped and looked down at Arianna. "We can do this later if you'd rather?"

"Do what?" Arianna asked.

"I just need to talk to your daddy and papa," Justin said. "Boring stuff."

"About my brother?" she said. "I o'erheard Daddy tell Papa this morning." She shuffled out of Will's grasp and presented herself at Justin's feet. "I can go play in my room if you want?"

"How about you and I go play?" Adrienne offered, holding out her hand to Ari. "Leave the boys talk about boring stuff."

"OK," she grinned. She grabbed Adrienne's hand and pulled her towards the bedroom.

"I never thought I'd say this," Sonny said, "but thank god for Mom."

"You know she loves spending time with Arianna," Justin said, indicating they should sit down.

Sonny's hand found Will's and gave it a gentle squeeze; an old thank you.

~~~

Abby pushed open the door to the club and hesitated for a moment. "Am I welcome?" she asked tentatively.

Sonny stopped and looked over to her. "Depends," he said with a shrug.

"On...?"

"On whether or not the conversation will involve babies."

"Baby free zone," she said, holding her hands up in surrender.

"That goes for everything else," Sonny said as she came in and sat at the bar. "I just... I can't."

"I know. I understand. And I'm—"

"No, we are not talking about this, remember?"

"OK," she smiled. "So..." She stopped and laughed softly. "This is awkward. I just... I want to say one thing, please Sonny? One thing."

"One thing," he sighed.

"I told JJ, I'm telling you... I'm not choosing sides. I can't. I love you both and I'm sorry this is happening, but I can't choose sides."

"You just did," Sonny said quietly. "Half the town is telling JJ and Olivia that what they're doing is wrong, that they're stealing our son, _my_ son, from us. My parents, Will's parents. The Bradys and the Kiriakis and half the Hortons. Everyone else? They're saying nothing. They're sitting back while JJ and Olivia make plans for our son."

"You know he never planned—"

"But he did. You say that like it makes it all OK, like we should just stand back and say it's OK. That is _my_ son, Abby. My baby. Not JJ's. And because some shrink somewhere screwed up she has rights that she didn't have before.

"You know how much Will and I wanted this baby. Don't think we didn't know you were the one who went to EJ and Sami so we could get the money. You know all of that and you're still sitting back, saying nothing, while your brother moves our surrogate into your home. While your mom talks about decorating a nursery."

"Sonny..." She stopped when she realised she couldn't say anything to make this better, but worse still he was right. "I'm sorry."

"Me too," Sonny said. "I need to go. T will serve you, he's just sorting stock out but he'll be back soon."

"Sonny—"

He walked out without another word, passing a very confused Tad as he did so.

"What just happened?" T asked.

"Me and my family," Abby sighed. "I'm not taking sides in this. I can't. I thought he'd understand."

"Well what did you expect? Your brother is babynapping his son and half the town are sitting back and letting it happen."

"That's not—"

"Yeah, it kinda is," he cut across. "What else do you call it when two people want to keep a kid that isn't theirs and they have no legal right to?"

"Olivia has rights," she said.

"Doesn't sound like someone who's not taking sides," Tad said.

~~~

Reaching out, Will put his hand on Sonny's knee. "Hey," he said quietly, "relax."

"Sorry," Sonny said, suddenly aware that he'd been bouncing his leg. "Just—"

"I know," Will said. "But it'll be OK."

"You guys ready?" Justin asked, taking his seat next to them.

"Shouldn't we be asking you that?" Will laughed softly. "This is... this is not what I expected."

"Well, family court is a little different," Justin said. "Sit round a table and—"

"Discuss where our son goes," Sonny said quietly. "Dad—"

"I know," Justin said gently.

"Here we go," Will said under his breath as the door opened and JJ walked in, followed by their lawyer, and then Olivia.

Sonny's gaze immediately fell to the curve of her belly. Round and defined; clear sign of the boy growing inside her. She put a hand protectively over the bump which got his attention.

"He's doing well," she said. "He's... he's strong. Good kick on him."

"Yeah?" Sonny asked, his hands desperate to reach out and feel for himself.

"Sonny, I—" she started, but she was interrupted by the mediator.

~~~

The day of the scan, when Olivia and JJ had come clean to Will and Sonny, all she'd asked was one question.

"Do you hate me now?"

Olivia had asked it in more ways than JJ could count, but it was always the same. _Do you hate me?_

He thought about that question a lot over the weeks that followed. He knew that if you'd asked him that a year ago he'd have said yes, he'd hate anyone who tried to keep Will and Sonny from their child. The memory of what Nick had done to them still itched and burned whenever it was brought up, and Abby missed her friend all the more with every passing mention.

But now? Now things were different.

When he'd first returned to Salem Will and Sonny were newly together but even then you could see the potential, see how they could last the distance. When Sonny stood by Will with Arianna, married him, supported him through Ari's illness? It showed JJ how much it was possible to love someone. Not that he would ever admit it to anyone but they were setting the standard for him. He wanted to find a woman that he could love like that.

Then one day he ran into her. Literally.

From there things had gone on. He'd taken her for coffee to apologise, and when he asked her out properly she'd told him about Lily. He'd immediately found himself saying that it wasn't an issue. And it wasn't. He liked kids, of course he did. He was more than happy to look after Arianna; he found playing with her and being around her almost immediately lifted his mood. Sometimes he was even able to talk about why her mommy wasn't around anymore without feeling anything but sad for the lives that one bad decision continued to ruin.

It didn't matter to him that Olivia had a daughter, and that day at the park when he'd met her for the first time he'd started to realise that this could be The Real Thing. That thing that his cousins had found with each other.

"Do you hate me now?" she'd asked him and he'd instinctively told her, again and again, that he didn't, that he couldn't, that he still loved her and still wanted to be with her and would support her no matter what the test results said.

When the results had come back showing Sonny was the father, he'd felt two emotions simulatenously.

Joy for his cousins, and sorrow for himself. Because in those few weeks when they had realised what they'd done, when they'd been trying to work out what they would do, the idea that he could about to be a father himself had never truly gone away. It had sat there since they'd realised the dates, grown with every passing day and discussion, and it was rooted firmly in his head and his heart when they sat in that office and go the results.

"This is better," he'd managed to say when he'd taken her home that night, and although she'd agreed with him she'd cried and he'd cried all the same. Because the idea had stuck and they were no longer afraid of it.

Then just as they'd started to accept the idea that they would have to hand him over, two things had happened.

The first was that JJ had spent the night with her for a second time. She'd pushed him away every other time, told him not to make it any more weird than it already was. He'd spooned in behind her, rested his hand on her belly, and through her soft cotton top he felt the boy turn and move and kick in response to his touch. He'd then talked to the baby, sung to him in an attempt to get him to sleep, and laughed at each kick in protest of a song that he didn't like.

The second thing was when he'd gone with Olivia to the agency the next day. Howard was trying to stay calm but the undercurrent of anger was there. He spoke about reputation and contacts and legal stuff, and when JJ had had enough and told Howard to stop speaking to Olivia like she was a child, he'd snapped in return and said that because of her actions she'd destroyed the one guarantee that prospective parents had in this situation; the surrogate would have no rights to the child.

And then suddenly the idea was kicking just as hard as the baby had that night.

~~~

They didn't plan it. They didn't set out to hurt anyone or make life difficult, but when they had the first meeting with their lawyer they'd asked about custody and how it worked now that the contract was void. The simple truth was that this child was legally Olivia's now, and she would have to consent to an adoption to allow Sonny and then Will to raise him.

She should consent to an adoption, but the truth wasn't that simple.

When she'd turned to JJ, her eyes welling with tears as she said that she loved this baby and she couldn't? He was just as lost as she was. 

~~~

"They will hate me," she said quietly. "They will... they'll hate us both."

"Are you sure?" JJ asked. "I mean... are you sure you want to do this?"

"I love him," she said, her hand resting on her belly. "I love him. I can't imagine giving him up."

"Liv, you need to be sure about this." JJ slid to his knees in front of her, his hands resting on her legs. "You need to be... totally sure about this. Unreservedly sure. I love you, I will support you in whatever decision you make, but you have to be so sure about this."

"The lawyer said it, JJ. I'm his mom."

"Liv..."

"I know, I mean... I know that I'm not _biologically_ his mom, but that doesn't change how I feel in here," she said, putting a hand over her heart. "He's mine, JJ. He... feels like mine. I feel like I did when I was carrying Lily and I can't imagine not being there for him."

"This is going to... blow my family wide open," JJ said. "I really need you to be sure."

"I am," she said, putting her hands over his. She leaned over as best she could to kiss him. "I wouldn't be doing this if I wasn't." She ran her fingers through his hair. "Maybe this is why I would have failed the test. I just... I can't detach from him, JJ. I can't."

"Justin wants to meet us tomorrow, to... talk," he said.

"Adoption."

"Yeah."

"We'll have to tell them. They'll hate us."

"We don't have to do this, Liv. We can sign the papers, we can—"

"Give up our son?" she said tentatively. "Because he is, isn't he?"

"Liv—"

"No, you know that it doesn't matter where a baby comes from. I see you with Lily and I know that you care about her, that you will love her. And Sonny adores Arianna. I love him."

"OK," JJ sighed. "OK."

"Really?"

"This is not going to be easy. You know that?"

"We can't take him from them, you know that?" JJ said. "They love him too. You know how badly they want him."

"Sonny's his dad, he should be part of his life. They both should. We could... work something out. All four of us. Do you think they'll go for that?"

"I think that they're going to be pissed," JJ said. 

"You'll stay with me?" Olivia asked quietly.

"Forever," JJ whispered. "I love you."

"I love you too."

~~~

As soon as they'd left that first meeting Olivia had burst into tears, pushing JJ away as he'd tried to hold her, comfort her. She cried out of guilt because she knew she was hurting two wonderful people, but to give them what they wanted would destroy her. A part of her wished she could go back to that day in the office, when she'd heard Arianna and had laughed at what she said. She'd have walked out, had said no, had done whatever it took to stop her getting to this point.

But then she wouldn't have this child. This boy growing inside her, every bit her son except in biology. And what did that matter when it came to family?

Pulling her cell from her pocket she pulled up and dialled a number. "Can I come over?" she asked when the call was answered. "Please? Half an hour, that's all I want."

~~~

Although she'd tried to put on a brave face, Lily had seen straight through the act and given her mother a long hug. They'd talked and played and read a book together while her father made them something to eat. Then, after a family dinner together, she'd gone outside to play while her parents stayed inside with coffee (him) and herbal tea (her).

"How far along are you now?" he asked.

"Five months. It's a boy."

"They must be thrilled."

"I want to keep him."

"Shit, Olivia," he said, more in reaction than exasperation. "Can you do that?"

"They screwed up at the agency, well the psych did, and... well... yeah. I can."

"And you want to?"

"I love him, Ryan. I love him like I love Lily."

"Do they know? The dads?"

"Yeah. We... told them. Today."

"We?" Ryan asked.

"Me. And the lawyer. And... JJ."

"JJ, huh?" Ryan asked. "Lily's mentioned him more than once. Guessing it's serious."

"I love him."

"You love him, you love this baby. Should be simple, shouldn't it, Olivia?"

"I just—"

"Like making dramas out of things."

"Ryan—"

"No, you need to listen to me," he said. "You wanted to get into this surrogacy because you wanted to help a couple have a kid. And I helped you out with that, even though we were barely holding it together for our kid. And now here you are, five months gone, and you want to keep the baby. You are actively taking this baby from them. And I know you. So I'm guessing you have a damn good reason."

"I love him."

"More than that."

"What?"

"That's not enough, Olivia. Loving someone isn't enough to keep them. Hell, if it were I'd have kept you. So what else is going on?"

"I had a bit of a scare. Nothing big, just some spotting. Early on. And I was so scared that I was going to lose the baby, but I wasn't scared for them. For Will and Sonny. For me. I thought, it didn't turn out that way, but I thought that it was my baby for a while. Mine and JJ's. And that's probably not what you want to hear—"

"I'm a big boy," Ryan said, "I can take it."

"But it was right before the clinic. And that was just the start of my screw ups. But when I thought that I might lose the baby it felt like—"

"Like when we lost ours?" Ryan finished.

"Yeah. That same fear and worry and then there was Lily and it was like nothing else. And I felt that with this baby. I couldn't lose him because it, because he felt like he was mine. He's a part of me."

"I don't think I need to ask how the guys took the news," Ryan said, sipping at his coffee. "So what happens now?"

"My lawyer thinks we're going to go to mediation," she said, holding her own cup to try and gain some of its warmth. "It's the first step in... custody battles."

"You know this isn't going to end with everyone being happy, right? Custody battles never do."

"I don't want to cut them out of his life," she said, "I couldn't do that. We have a plan. Me and JJ. I'm moving in with him. Well, into his family home."

"Code for: moving in with his mom."

"Yeah, OK," she laughed. "But it's a good home and they're good people. And it means we can provide a stable home for... him."

"I know that pause," Ryan said. "For who?"

"...Alex."

"Alex."

"Yeah."

"You want to call him Alex?"

"Ryan—"

"Look, you know how screwed up this is. You know this is only going to get worse. What if the agency sue?"

"The lawyer reckons they won't. I mean, they screwed up pretty badly themselves. It's in everyone's best interests to just—"

"Leave it be?" Ryan sighed. "Jesus, Olivia."

"You know me. When I screw up—"

"You do it big, yeah. But you also try to do right by people."

"You think I should hand over this baby?"

"I think that if you want to keep him then... then nothing I say will change your mind."

"I should go," she said, getting to her feet. "I... thank you. I'll say goodbye to Lily on my way out."

"You still good for this weekend?"

"Wouldn't miss it for the world," she said, kissing his cheek.

"When's mediation?"

"Day after tomorrow. They're 'keen to expedite the process'," she said.

"Good luck."

"Going to need it," she said.

~~~

JJ was sitting on the doorstep when she walked up to the house. "Wasn't sure if you were coming back."

"This is my home now," she said, sitting next to him on the step. "I went to see Lily."

"You could have told me. You should have told me."

"I know."

"We're supposed to be in this together."

"And we are," she said, grabbing his hand. "We all need to be in this together."

"I don't understand."

"Shared custody. Sonny's name on the birth certificate and shard custody. We don't cut them out of Alex's life and we—"

"Alex?"

"What? You don't like it?"

"No, no I like it."

"Sonny's his dad, JJ. And I need to respect that."

"OK."

"So when we go into that room, that's what I want to go in with. Equal. Shared parenting. I know it's not what they want, I know they want to fight us... but I love him, Alex, and I can't just give him up."

"Me either," JJ said. "Fifty-fifty."

"Thank you."

"Next time, call me, OK? I love you."

"Love you too."


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to everyone who bore with me over the delay. So sorry this wasn't ready last week, but RL decided it wanted my full attention.
> 
> Oh, and to everyone who's ranting about how Olivia shouldn't have any rights in this, [sometimes reality is stranger than fiction](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gfhfnxm9X-4)... (Thanks to LA for the link.)

Sonny managed to keep himself quiet as Olivia and JJ's lawyer outlined their offer. Sonny's name on the birth certificate. An active role in the baby's life. Shared custody. An utterly flexible and fair arrangement that would allow the four of them to be a part of the baby's life.

"No," he said firmly when they were done.

"Sonny—" JJ began.

"What? Did you think I'd be OK with this? That we'd be OK with you raising our son? I'm sorry, JJ, but no."

"So what's your counteroffer?" the lawyer asked.

"Olivia hands him over as agreed. After forty two days she signs away her parental rights and Will adopts him. Then we raise our son, just us."

"But I—" Olivia started.

"I know you say you love him," Sonny continued, "and if that were true then wouldn't you want him to be with his family?"

"I am his family," she said firmly. "Whether you like it or not, I'm his mom."

"Not," Sonny muttered.

"That's hardly fair," JJ said, reaching out to take Olivia's hand. "We didn't plan this, either of us. But it's a simple fact. Olivia is his mom, we all love him, so why can't we all be a part of his life?"

"Because we shouldn't be in this mess," Will said. "Because she was supposed to be our surrogate."

"Things change."

"How we feel won't," Will said. "He's ours, JJ. You can't—"

"And you can't expect me to just hand him over," JJ said. "You wouldn't give up Ari, why would I--?

"This is not the same!" he protested.

"It's exactly the same," JJ said. "Sonny wouldn't give up on Arianna. I won't give up on him."

"JJ, please," Will begged. "Please don't do this to us."

"If I didn't love him, I wouldn't," Olivia said. "I swear this to you. If I didn't love him with my whole heart, my whole being. If I didn't think I, that we couldn't give him a good life, I wouldn't be doing this. But the simple facts are that I do love him. And JJ and I will make sure that he wants for nothing. Including his father."

"You're right," Sonny said quietly, "I wouldn't give up on Arianna. But that wasn't just because she felt like mine from the moment she was born. It was because that Nick was trying to steal her from her family, from where she belonged. From her parents, from Will. That baby belonged with him and I fought then to keep her with him. I will fight now to keep my son with me."

"I am _not_ Nick," JJ said.

"No, you're actually worse. At least Nick was honest about his reasons for keeping Arianna from Will, from us. You hide behind love and obligation. You tell us that you want to do what's right for him in one breath and in the same you talk about shared custody and access and co-parenting. That is not what is right for him. That is not what is best for him. Will and I fought long and hard to provide one home for Arianna. One, stable home where she was surrounded by the people who love her the most.

"And you want to divide our family up, reduce it to... part-time. You've heard her talk about her brother, she is _so excited_. She won't understand why he's not there all the time."

"I'm sure you will be able to explain it," the lawyer cut across, "so there's no need for emotional blackmail."

"No? Isn't that what they're doing?" Justin challenged.

"No deal," Sonny said. "He comes home with me and Will."

"No," Olivia said.

"Then I guess we're going to court," Sonny said.

"I need... can I get a moment?" Olivia said, getting to her feet. "I just... need to powder my nose."

"You OK?" JJ asked, half rising as she did.

"I'm fine," she said, putting a hand to his cheek. "I'll be back in a moment."

"She has rights," JJ said, "whether you like it or not."

"She can sign those rights over," Will said.

"She doesn't want that."

"Then we'll fight," Sonny said. "And you know how that goes."

"The fact they have overcome the past that you would seek to use—" the lawyer started.

"Don't misunderstand me," Will said, "we are so proud of our cousin and his sobriety. But if he stands between us and our son—"

"You're standing between me and..." JJ started, but then trailed off.

"Were you going to say, 'my son'?" Sonny challenged, his voice low and dangerous. " _Your_ son? I'm sorry, but where are your rights in this? How is he _your_ son? Fuck, Will has more rights than you do! But this is my child."

"It's Olivia's body."

"We paid good money for her to be our surrogate."

"Last I heard you're claiming it back from the agency, so clearly that's not the issue here." 

"She is mentally unfit, the psych report proves it."

"To be a surrogate, not a mother. And that's not her fault. You can't blame her for bad choices."

"Is that your term for it? Bad choices? Was your drug use a bad choice?"

"You know I'm clean now, have been for years. That's in my past and we all have one. If we're talking about the past go back a few years and gays wouldn't have been allowed to have children."

"Bigotry and ignorance," Sonny spat. "Thankfully a court will see a stable couple able to support a child."

"They'll see that in us too, Sonny. Money isn't everything."

"You can have a child of your own!" Sonny snapped in desperation.

For a moment the sentence hung in the air. Will looked at Sonny, reading the expression on his face with practiced ease. There was a part of Sonny that wanted to take it back, but another part that knew it to be the truth. That for them to have a child, this child, was something that was not easily done.

"You know what it's like to love a child that's not yours," JJ said quietly, "not in the strictest sense. I know he's not mine. I know that you're his father. But would you let someone take Ari from you? She is your daughter and he is my son."

"We fought Nick—"

"He wasn't offering what we are. Nick wasn't going to accept you in Arianna's life. We won't keep you from his."

"Fine. He lives with us. You visit."

"No."

"Give me one reason why not."

"Your new home," JJ said. "You bought a home miles from Salem. You could disappear and none of us would realise for days. Given your family connections you could be abroad before anyone thinks to check."

"We could do that anyway," Sonny said without thinking.

"Not if JJ and Olivia have primary residence," Justin said, interjecting a note of caution. "Legally speaking, that's kidnapping."

"I know this is hard, Sonny, I do. I know it's unfair but it's where we are now. So what do we do? Who do we hurt?"

Will reached out instinctively, feeling the anger surging beside him, but even his touch wasn't enough to calm his husband.

"Who do we hurt? Let's hurt the two people who haven't lied or cheated or screwed up. Let's hurt the two people who need this route to even think of having a child, of expanding their family. Let's hurt Sonny, good ol' Sonny, who never holds a grudge and is always trying to do right by his family. Let's hurt Arianna who doesn't know what's going on but is a smart girl so has already figured out something's up. Let's hurt Abby who is stuck in the middle and let's tear the Horton family in two.

"You both say you want to do the right thing? Well if Olivia was half the decent person she claimed to be then she would honour the agreement. And of course it would be hard and we would do anything we could to help her let go but she needs to understand that she has to let go, JJ. That is not her son she's carrying. She is still just the surrogate, only without the damn contract. But if she is the good and decent person that you're all trying to make out that she is then she won't need one.

"I will take you to court if I have to. I will fight for my son with everything that I have. Because he is _my_ son, JJ. Not yours."

"Sonny, I—" JJ began, but he was interrupted by a sharp knock at the door before it was opened.

"You need to come now," a woman said to JJ.

"What?"

"Olivia's collapsed."

~~

Sonny hung up the phone and turned to Will. "Well they'd only tell me that she's been discharged, nothing else. Didn't even want to tell me that. Constance probably shouldn't have, but she did."

"That's got to be good, right?" Will said. "I mean, they'd not send her home if there was something wrong with either her or the baby?"

"I guess," he said quietly.

"Son?"

"Do you think JJ was right?"

"What?"

"Was it our fault? My fault?"

"What? No. No, Son, don't. Don't do that."

"But—"

"We stressed her out, Will. We did that."

"No, Sonny, we didn't. You can't think—"

"This isn't like Gabi and your mom, Will. This isn't Olivia not taking care of herself. This is just... stress."

"Did they tell you that?" Will challenged. "Did they tell you why she collapsed?"

"...No," Sonny admitted.

"Exactly. So until we know—"

"But we do," Sonny said. "She was fine, and you just know Aunt Jennifer will be making sure that she eats well and rests up. The only reason for her to collapse is stress."

"Even if that's true," Will said, reaching out and putting his hands on Sonny's arms, "and that's a big if, then you cannot blame yourself. And before you even start, don't." He guided him to sit on the couch. "This is our son. This is our baby, Sonny."

"Not if we jeopardise him. What if they use this against us?"

"Son—"

"It's what Nick tried with us," he pointed out. "And he was able to use it to make everyone side with him. We are—"

"Don't you dare finish that sentence," Will said with a half laugh. "We are _nothing_ like him."

"If he's not OK..." Sonny said quietly, leaning forward until his forehead was resting against Will's. "I would do anything for him, for my family, but I won't – I can't put him at risk. Not for anything."

"I know. Me either."

"We need to... we need to draw a line somewhere, Will. We have to."

"Sonny—"

Sonny pulled back to look at Will. "I gave you up once."

"What? When?" Will asked in confusion.

"When you first came out. I was already in love with you but you weren't interested in me. So I... let you go. I tried to at any rate. I just wanted you to be happy, and I hoped that you would find someone who would love you the way you deserve to be loved."

"I did," Will whispered, his fingers brushing Sonny's cheek.

"My point is," Sonny laughed, taking Will's hand in his, "that even though I wanted it to be me, I knew that I couldn't force the issue."

"This is a little different."

"No, Will, it's not. We love him, he's our son, but we cannot put him at risk like that again. We can't do it."

"OK, so we... ease up on the stress. But, Sonny, this whole... mess? It's going to be at least a _little_ stressful."

"We don't need to make it worse then."

"OK. No arguments. We will be the absolute picture of calm."

"And we need to speak to Ari."

"What? Sonny, no. No we can't do that to her."

"She knows something is up, Will. She's smart and Adrienne told me that she's been asking questions about her brother."

"What do you suggest we say?"

Sonny shrugged. "The truth? What we always said we'd do? All of her questions about Gabi we have answered, and been honest with it too. I need to... I need us to reclaim our lives, Will. I don't feel like me right now. I feel like this baby, being a dad? It's become everything."

"It should be everything," Will pointed out.

"Not like this. Not at the expense of everything else."

"OK."

"I love you," Will said.

"And I am so glad you do," Sonny laughed, "because giving you up? I was _really_ bad at it!"

Will laughed and pushed forward to kiss him. "I'm glad you were."

~~

No matter how many times Sonny came to the mansion, he always felt out of place. The grandeur of it all didn't sit right on his skin; he wanted a simple home with his family, a simple life. Sonny wasn't against hard work, he didn't expect to be handed anything (although the check for the surrogacy was an exception he was willing to make) and worked for everything that he had. He had built up and expanded the business with his family in mind – not only to provide for them today but their tomorrows as well.

Since his very first job Sonny had stood on his own two feet and paid his way. This included a time when, at the age of twelve, his parents had taken him and his brothers out for ice cream to celebrate some minor event, and Sonny had insisted on paying for his own with the monies from his very first wage. Sonny Kiriakis was independent, self-sufficient, and did things for himself.

"And to what do I owe the honour of this unexpected visit?" Victor asked as he walked into the room.

In four words Sonny broke the habit of a lifetime, and told his uncle how serious and desperate he was. "I need your help."

~~

Victor's words were still ringing in his ears when later that day they sat down with Arianna to have "The Talk". While his uncle had been kind and supportive and loving, he'd also been mindful of the consequences of Sonny's choices. Sonny, in response, had been just as determined as he was with everything else in his life and in the end he'd left with Victor's support and a final warning to really think about the consequences of his choice.

But looking at Will with Arianna on his knee he knew, without a second of doubt, that it was the right thing.

"So he might not come home with us?" Arianna asked, looking to Sonny for further clarification.

"That's what we're trying to work out, sweet pea," he said. "We all want him to come and live with us, but he can't live with us all."

"We did with Mommy," Arianna pointed out. "And it's a big house."

Will couldn't help but snort at the idea of them all living in that house together, and then he shook his head. "That was different, honey. Remember I said that Olivia and JJ are together now?"

"He can come too. I like JJ."

"But he lives with his mom and Abby."

"Will there be room for the baby?" Arianna asked. "Because we have more room so he should stay with us."

"It's not as simple as that," Will said, pressing a kiss to the top of her head, "I wish it was."

"We wanted you to know what was going on," Sonny said, putting a reassuring hand on her knee, "and that your daddy and I are going to do everything we can to make sure that we are a family."

"It doesn't matter where we live if we're family," Ari suddenly parroted. "Mommy said so. She lives somewhere else but we're still family."

"Yes we are," Sonny smiled weakly.

"But I..." Ari started, then hesitated. She started again, this time in a whisper as if she was ashamed of what she was saying. "I wish we did all live together."

"Oh, baby..." Will soothed, wrapping his arms a little tighter around her.

"Hey," Sonny whispered, "you know that when I promise you something I mean it?" When Ari nodded he held out his pinky finger. She wrapped hers around it and held his gaze as he said, "Well I promise you that we will be a family. Me, daddy, you, and your little brother. I promise."

It would be hours later before Will was finally able to challenge Sonny on his promise.

"What did you want me to say?" Sonny asked. "She wanted reassuring."

"I know that, but we can't make her that promise."

"Olivia wants us to be a part of his life," Sonny reasoned, "so we will be."

"I don't understand this change in you," Will said. "Yesterday you were refusing to entertain anything except full custody."

"Yes, and then Olivia had a scare and the one thing I want more than custody is a healthy baby and to be a part of his life. Will, just... You trust me, don't you?"

"Of course I do," Will said.

"So trust me. Please."

Will accepted the kiss but watched his husband move away, already suspicious of what he was planning.

~~

Olivia snapped awake, already lifting off the bed until she saw who had come into the room.

"I'm sorry," JJ said, "I didn't want to wake you."

"What time is it?"

"A little before three."

"I slept the whole day away."

"Good. You're supposed to rest."

"JJ—"

"I mean it, Liv. I am not going through that again."

"It was low blood pressure, honey, thousands of people have it and manage to survive without being wrapped in cotton wool."

"Yeah, well, none of them are the love of my life so—"

"What did you call me?" Olivia asked.

"I... I just..."

"Hey," she said gently, "what makes you think I mind?"

"I didn't know if it was too much."

"In a few months' time there will be a little boy in a crib in this room and we will be raising him together. How is you telling me you love me too much?" She stopped and looked at him for a second. "What is it?"

"Will's here."

"Right."

"You don't have to see him."

"No, I should," she said, starting to shift off the bed, "they'll be worried and—"

"Liv."

"Please don't do this. Don't make them into the bad guys in this, because if anyone deserves that title then it's us. We screwed up. We dropped... a bomb into their lives and their plans and of course they are upset."

"How can you be so good about this?"

"Because... because of them we have this little guy," she said, putting a hand on her belly.

"Alex," JJ smiled.

"What?"

"That's what you've been calling him, isn't it?"

"Yeah, but—"

"No. I like it."

"Really?"

"Yeah."

"OK," she smiled, "Alex."

"So... do you want to see Will?"

"Yeah. Just... help me up?" she giggled.

~~

Will was pacing nervously when JJ and Olivia came down. He held his hands up. "I come in peace."

"It's OK," Olivia said. "I don't want to shut you guys out."

"Tell that to the hospital. They wouldn't tell Sonny anything."

"I will," she said. "I mean it. You should... you should know."

"Wow. Th-thank you."

"Hey, can you give us a moment?" Olivia asked JJ. "It's OK, we'll be fine."

"I don't want you getting stressed—" he started.

"Won't happen, I promise," Will said. "I came to see how she is, to make sure that everything is OK, and to talk."

"Go," Olivia said, kissing his cheek.

"Call out if you need anything."

"Sorry," she said to Will once he'd gone. "Protective."

"I get it. He... he loves you."

"I love him."

"Good. I mean... he's been through a lot. And if he's happy then that's... I'm glad."

"We will do right by him, you know that?"

"I know you love him. I know that you want what's best for him."

"So you want to know why I think keeping him from you is best?" she asked. Gesturing they should sit she followed him round to the couch. "I don't buy into that crap that a baby needs a mom _and_ a dad. I also don't believe that you have to be together to provide for your child. All they need is love and stability and the rest kinda takes care of itself."

"A few diapers helps too," Will laughed.

"That's true," Olivia smiled. "I had, somewhere in the back of my mind for months, the idea that he could be mine and JJ's. And I honestly, _honestly_ hoped that he wasn't because I couldn't do that to you. And it was also because I didn't know how JJ would react. But then I told him and he was wonderful and supportive and loving and I realised that if he were mine? Then that wouldn't be such a bad thing.

"And that was it. The idea took hold and I just kept thinking it. I didn't want to, especially after I knew he was yours, but feeling him move and turn and kick? I kept thinking about when I was pregnant with Lily and then I... I was in love with him. I was in love with him like he was mine.

"And I swear to you, Will, I hate that I've hurt you and that is why I am so desperate to make this... as OK for you as I can. I know it's not what you wanted and I know that you want me to just sign him over to Sonny and you. But I can't."

"Love isn't all that makes a parent," Will pointed out.

"I know that."

"You're asking us to give him up, to you and JJ. For him to live here with you and for us to see him—"

"Every day," she cut across.

"But it's not bath time, is it? It's not putting him to bed each night and getting up two hours later when he's hungry. It's not being there for his first smile or his first tooth. It's about timing and access and half of a life."

"Better than no life. And that's what you're asking of me."

"If you're with JJ then you'll be a part of his life," Will said. "You'll see him all the time and I promise you we'll let him know exactly who you are and how important you were in bringing him into this world."

"Living in a house almost an hour from Salem? How often would I see him?"

"As much as you wanted to. Every day if you wanted to. It's the same deal, Olivia, just he lives with us."

"Will..."

"Please. Just think about it. If you honestly think that your deal is fair, that it's the right thing for all of us, then what does it matter where he goes to bed most nights? I know you feel like his mom, and I know that legally you have those rights... But he's still Sonny's child. He's that boy that I imagined and he's that baby that we want so badly. Please, please don't take him away from us."

"Will—"

"Just think about it, OK? No pressure, really. I called Justin, told him not to hurry scheduling a new meeting."

"Can't leave it too long," she said, a hand rubbing her belly. "Three and a half months to go."

"We can wait a few weeks though."

"What about Sonny?"

"Sonny is... passionate," Will decided on, "but he wants what's best for the baby. For all of us. And he doesn't want to put you under any stress. It really scared him, what happened yesterday."

"It wasn't his fault. I'd been feeling faint all day."

"I think the doctors could tell him that and he wouldn't believe it. But I'm glad to know. In any case, stressing you out is the last thing we want."

"I just want this sorted, and sorted soon."

"So do we."

"I'll speak to my lawyer, see what we can do."

"Like I said, no rush."

"And like I said, there's a little rush," she smiled. "Oh... He's kicking. You... do you want to...?"

Will hesitated before reaching out his hand a little. He stopped, however, inches above her belly.

"It's OK," she said.

"No, it's just... with everything... Thank you though."

"Oh. OK."

"I'll see myself out. Get some rest, make JJ wait on you hand and foot."

"He already is," she smiled.

"Good. I'll see you soon?"

"Of course."

There was a slight movement by the ajar kitchen door that proved JJ hadn't gone far while they talked, but Will said nothing and left the Horton house without comment. All the way home he started to let himself believe that things might work out for the best – maybe not how they'd hoped, but the best possible.

Until he overheard something that confirmed his fears.

The door to the apartment was open, having not caught when Sonny came home. As such Will could hear every word of his husband's side of the conversation.

"So how quickly will the passport be ready?... No, Will and Arianna already have passports, so it's just the baby's we'd need... Well all newborns look alike, right? Could we just use one of mine? I think Mom's got about a million of them... Well I'm just trying to think of ways to speed this up, Uncle Vic, I want to be gone as soon as possible after the birth... OK, fine, we'll get his picture... Yes, I know it's better... Yes, I'm still sure. Look, I'd better go, Will's going to be home soon. And Uncle Vic? Thank you for this. Means more to me than I can say."

Will had pushed open the door by the time Sonny had ended the call and turned around. One look and Sonny knew that he knew. 

"Will—"

"What did he say?"

"What?"

"Victor. What did he say? How quickly can he get the passport ready?"

Sonny's face changed in surprise; clearly he hadn't been expecting this reaction. Then he seemed to relax a little. "Oh... days after he's born."

"So what? We take him and go?"

"We can be halfway 'round the world before they even know. Uncle Victor said that he'd help us get set up somewhere else."

"The four of us?"

"Will, I'm not letting anyone tear our family apart."

"No, you'll just do that yourself," Will said.

"What?"

"You'll just tear us apart. You're talking about _kidnapping_ , Sonny. You're talking about taking a newborn boy out of the country."

"He's _our_ son, Will."

"Until Olivia signs those papers he's hers too. And what about Ari?"

"What?"

"What about Arianna's family? About Gabi? You know how much they love their visits. You're just going to take that away from her? From both of them? Gabi won't ever see her daughter again and Ari really will miss her mom."

"Will—"

"My family, your family... All of them. I mean, I know Mom's more than a little crazy sometimes but do you honestly think she'll let me go?"

"If she knows you have to do it—"

"But we don't, Son, that's the thing. We don't have to do this."

"Why? Has she agreed to hand him over?"

"No, but—"

"Exactly."

"So you decide to kidnap him?"

"I wish you'd stop using that word."

"Why? It's the truth. That's what you want to do."

"Fine," Sonny snapped, "yes, let's call it kidnapping. But if that's what it takes to keep my family together then that's what I'll do. I would do anything for you, you know that."

"What happened to that line we said we'd draw?"

"That was about putting him at risk. This isn't that."

"Do you hear yourself?" Will asked. "Talking about all of this like... like it's normal and OK to take a newborn and _leave the country_."

"Will—"

"No, if that's what you want to do then you do it," he said, pulling open a drawer and rummaging around in it. He pulled out three passports and checked them before returning one. "But you're not doing it with me or Ari."

"Will—"

"We are not leaving," he continued, putting their passports into his pocket. "I'm not leaving these with you. I'm not leaving the country with you. If you want to take him then you do it alone."

"That's not fair," Sonny protested.

"No, what isn't fair is what would happen if we did go," Will said. "What if we got caught? Have you thought about that? What if we got stopped at the airport or they followed us out there? What if they found out where we were? We would go to jail and we would lose Arianna. Actually, no. _She'd_ lose _us_ , Sonny. She's lost her mom and then she'd lose her dads because her papa made a stupid decision and I didn't stop him."

"What if we didn't get caught?" Sonny countered. "What if we lived the rest of our lives as a family?"

"And Gabi?"

"When she gets out—"

"She won't have seen her daughter for over twenty years. She and Ari will be strangers to each other. "

"Well what do you want me to do?" Sonny asked, his voice straining with emotion. "Just sit back and let her take him?"

"I went to see her this afternoon. We talked about... about what would be the best thing for him. I suggested that he live with us, and that she has access."

"Will, no—"

"It's the best and easiest solution, Sonny. We have our son and she plays a role in his life. We need to accept the fact that legally Olivia is his mom, and no amount of screaming and shouting is going to change that."

"So you expect me to just give up on him?"

"This is not... this is not giving up, Sonny!" Will snapped. "This is me trying to do right by _my_ family. By all three of you. I want Ari in a home where she can still have a good relationship with her mom. I want you out of jail. And I want our son to be happy and settled."

"I want that too," Sonny said, taking half a step towards Will, "I just want him to be here with us."

"Not like this," Will said. "I won't do it like this."

"I can't just let him go, I can't watch him be a part of someone else's life. I won't do that to him. Watch him torn between two homes? You told me what that did to you, it was your biggest fear for Arianna, and now you want to do it with him? Explain that to me, Will. Explain to me how this is even remotely OK."

"Because it's either that or nothing," Will snapped. "Because if we push then we are going to lose him – if not in terms of custody then he will hate us for it. Trust me, I know that from experience. I want him here as much as you do but he comes first. He has to be safe and he has to be happy and I would... I would rather not have him at all than have him hate me."

"So you'd give him up?"

"You gave me up," Will challenged. "I gave you up. After you found out about Gabi and the baby, I gave you up. I was willing to do the friends thing—"

"This is different, Will."

"No, it's not. This is love, Sonny. This is what it is. You loved me and you gave me up because it's what was best. I gave up Arianna because it was the right thing to do for others involved. You can't just do what you want and expect everyone else to fall in line."

"And that's what you think I'm doing?"

"It's what I _know_ you're doing," Will said. "Finally, the Kiriakis shows himself."

Sonny said nothing, just held Will's gaze for a moment. Then, grabbing his jacket on the way, he left.

~~

After she'd pushed most of her dinner around the plate instead of eating it, Will decided that he needed to tackle the problem head on.

"Arianna Grace," he said firmly, using her 'you're in trouble' name, "you cannot behave like this."

"I don't wanna share," she pouted. "My brother."

"I know, baby, but—"

"No."

"Arianna."

"No, no, no, no, no!" she shouted. "You told me I was getting a brother and you lied to me. We don't get him!"

"Arianna—"

"I hate you, I want Papa."

"Papa isn't here, darling—"

"I want Papa."

"Ari—"

" _I want Papa!_ " she screamed, throwing her fork down in protest. Before Will could move she'd climbed down from her chair and walked into her room, slamming the door.

Sighing, Will put his head in his hands and tried really hard not to cry. Since Sonny had walked out he'd heard nothing. When Will returned to an empty apartment after picking up Ari he'd started to suspect that this was more than just a cooling off walk out. As the hours ticked away to dinner and there was still nothing? He knew it.

In silence he cleared away the dinner plates, realising that he'd eaten just as little as Ari had. He did the washing up, took out the bins, and tidied away the stray items that were scattered about. And there, under his jacket, were two blue passports.

He held them for a moment, wondering if he should put them back in the drawer or go through with his plan to hide them somewhere. He knew that Sonny hadn't given up on his idea, and there was still a part of him that was scared of finding himself in a car en route to the airport in four months' time. Of sweating nervously through airport security and immigration.

Sonny was too determined sometimes.

He transferred the passports to his bag, already thinking of places where he could hide them without raising too much suspicion. A part of him hated this, the necessary subterfuge, but he knew that there was more at stake here than their son.

A sound from behind Ari's door reminded him of just how much.

By the time she'd shuffled out, hungry and sorry beyond words, Will had her in his arms. He kissed her cheeks, held her close, and the pair of them stayed up far too late watching cartoon reruns while they ate chips straight from the bag.

"Papa wouldn't like us doing this," Ari pointed out.

"No, he wouldn't."

"Can I stay up until he finishes work?"

Realising that Sonny probably wasn't coming home tonight, Will tried to think of a simple and persuasive reason why she couldn't, but she was already yawning and snuggling in the way she did when she was ready for sleep.

"Come on, baby," he said, scooping her into his arms.

"But I wanna stay up," she protested sleepily.

"I know," he said, almost adding _you'll see him in the morning_ before he realised that it may not be true.

By the time he'd taken her into her room, and fought to get her into her sleepwear, he was fighting back his own yawns. Leaving a small light on for Sonny (ever in hope that he would come home), Will went to bed himself, curling up along the imaginary middle line down the bed; the end of his side and the start of Sonny's. Close to him but not quite there.

~~

All the way through breakfast Will tried to avoid holding Ari's gaze for too long. The idea that her papa didn't come in to say goodnight when he came home from work, _and_ that he left before she got up was not sitting right with her, and Will felt as if one long look from her would have him crumbling and admitting that Sonny didn't come home.

He was just too tired for that.

"I wanna go to the club," Ari declared, pushing her empty plate away from her.

"What?" Will asked in surprise.

"Please," she added, as if this was where the problem was. "I wanna go to the club, please."

"Ari—"

"I won't disturb Papa, I promise. I can bring my book and sit on the chair nice and quiet and when he gets his break we can have lunch together?"

"That... sounds great," Will admitted.

"I'll get my book," Ari said, climbing down and heading into her room before Will could say anything in protest. When she reappeared five minutes later she had her school backpack on which clearly contained more than a book, but unable to argue with her Will just picked up his wallet, phone and keys, and taking her hand in his they set off for the club.

~~

"Papa!" Ari yelled as soon as she walked in the door. She ran across the room and jumped up into his waiting arms, pressing a kiss against his cheek. "You didn't say night to me."

"What?" Sonny asked in confusion.

"And you were gone this morning."

"Oh, yeah," he said, catching up, "sorry, baby."

"Daddy says that if I'm good and quiet I can sit in the corner and read and then we can have lunch together."

"Did he now?" Sonny asked, looking over at Will.

"No, she said that," Will said by way of an apology, "I just got caught up in it."

"Sounds like my girl," Sonny laughed, setting Ari down. She refused to let him go, however, holding onto one of his hands and his trouser leg. "It's fine... if you wanted to."

"Course he does," Ari said, looking from one to the other, her face creasing up in confusion.

Realising that she was expecting more, Will stepped forward and kissed Sonny's cheek in the expected greeting.

"Ugh," Ari pouted, "you can do better than that."

There was a part of Will that wanted to laugh at the fact that they had a four-year old daughter who was actively encouraging parental PDAs, but at the same time he wished they didn't. This time he pressed his lips to Sonny's in what he'd planned to be a simple, chaste kiss, but the familiar taste and closeness drew him in and soon there was real feeling behind it.

"Imma getting the booth!" Ari declared, and Sonny was aware of getting his hand and trouser leg back, but he stayed with Will.

"I missed you last night," Will whispered before stealing another kiss.

"I missed you too. Spent half the night thinking I should get a better couch in the office."

"No," Will said firmly, punctuating it with another kiss, "no more nights in the office. We haven't been apart since you came home from the hospital and I hated it. Please don't."

"Will—"

"I know we need to talk and figure stuff out, but... I don't want you to be away from us. It felt wrong."

"Tell me about it," Sonny said, his hand curling around Will's collar. "I really don't sleep well without you."

"Me either."

"I love you."

"I love you," Will said, "and you know I will do anything for you. But—"

"But you can't do... what I'm asking," Sonny said. He glanced over to the booth where Ari had seated herself. She had removed her book and placed it on the table, and from her bag came a colouring book and pencils, her favourite stuffed monkey as well as a couple of its 'zoo pals', a sweater and a notebook. "Is she moving in?"

"I think she's setting up for the day," Will laughed, resting his head against Sonny's temple. "If that's OK, I mean—"

"Of course it's OK," Sonny said, turning his head back towards Will. "Why wouldn't I want my family here? It's mainly paperwork I have to do, T's covering the bar, so... so we can spend the day together. If you want."

"Only if I can borrow your laptop to edit my latest chapter," Will said. "If I'd known this was going to be an all day thing...!"

Sonny nodded and kissed Will gently, before heading to the office to collect what he needed. Will crossed to the booth, sliding in across from Arianna who had opened the notebook and was busy trying to choose a pencil.

"So, what do we have planned for today?" Will asked, looking at everything she'd brought with her.

"I'm writing to Mommy," Ari said, matter-of-factly, "and telling her about my brother and JJ and Olivia."

"Right," Will said carefully.

"Do you think she'll be upset? Because she's not his mommy?"

"I think your mommy will be very happy for you," Will said, reaching over and tucking a stray strand of blonde hair behind her ear. "If you need help with any big words—"

"I'll ask Papa," she said.

Sonny, who had just arrived bearing paperwork and a laptop, had to laugh at the bluntness of Ari's statement and the look on Will's face. "Do I want to know?"

"That our daughter has a favourite? No," Will sulked, taking the laptop and opening the screen.

There was already a page open, and before he could minimise it he had already seen the title of what was clearly a draft of Sonny's next blog post. One look at him confirmed that it had been left open for a reason; Sonny wanted Will to see it.

When Sonny took his seat next to Will, their legs pressed up against each other, and every so often a hand would drift down under the table to brush against a knee or a thigh. Things weren't fixed, but they had the intention of doing so, and that was a start.

_**Making choices: or how I nearly lost what I had in order to get what I want.** _

~~

Ari was fast asleep by the time they carried her out to Sonny's car. She woke briefly while she was being strapped in, but then lolled her head to the side and was out again within seconds. Carefully Sonny shut the door and turned to face Will.

"I loved today," he said.

"Me too. We haven't done that in... a really long time."

"We've had other things to think about."

"And while we were so busy thinking about our son we seemed to forget we had a daughter?"

"Distracted then," Sonny offered.

"I want to say something and I need you to hear me out without interruption," Will said, reaching for Sonny's waist. "OK?"

"OK."

"Whether we like it or not, the simple fact is that we need to find a middle ground with Olivia. At the moment they have a lot going for them, but I really think our best option is for us to stop going on about raising him ourselves. If we are seen to be working with them then it will make this whole process a lot smoother.

"I know, far too well, what it's like to grow up with parents who fight over you like you're a prize, and I can't do that to him. And I won't take Ari from Gabi or put us in danger of going to jail. It's too big a risk, Sonny, and I just can't.

"When I spoke to Olivia I suggested that we consider the baby living with us, and them having unlimited access. We have no idea how far she and JJ are going to make it; this time next year they could be married or they could have gone their separate ways. But they're new and unsure and I think we can offer a little bit more stability for him.

"And if we keep them in the picture, keep them involved, we prevent more fights and more arguments. But more than that, our son will grow up knowing that we tried to make things the best for him as possible."

"Are you suggesting, Will Horton, that we make it so that when he's old enough to make his own choice, we look like the better option?"

"If that's a by-product of it," Will smiled. "I think we need to be realistic here. We are not going to get full and sole custody easily and quickly, and who knows what damage that will do to our families? Dad's already feeling stuck because Aunt Jennifer's put out he won't come by the house, and I know that it's a miracle that your mom hasn't bitten through her tongue the way she's been holding back."

"And let's not forget the saving grace of EJ taking your mom away these past few weeks," Sonny said, pulling Will in closer.

"I am not giving up on him, I won't ever do that," Will said, "but we need to be logical about this. Small steps."

"Shared custody, residence with us," Sonny said, "then over time—"

"We wait," Will said.

"Where did this idea come from?"

"You."

"What?"

"You waited for me. You gave me time and you let me make my mistakes. You waited and now here we are."

"You think they'll make a mistake?" Sonny asked.

"I think it's all new and there are some issues there," Will said carefully, "and they are living with Aunt Jennifer."

"Could you imagine trying to raise Ari at the DiMera mansion?" Sonny laughed.

"Or the Kiriakis one," Will countered.

"OK, OK. Let's... try this. We'll call the passport plan Option B."

"Sonny—"

"C?" he offered jokingly.

"It's a really good thing I love you," Will said, kissing Sonny gently. "Let's get our little girl home."

~~

"Mail call," JJ said, dropping the envelopes in front of Olivia. "How are you feeling this morning?"

"Better," she said, putting down her toast and picking up the larger of the envelopes. "Alex decided he'd had enough playing with my bladder so I actually got to sleep."

"I know," JJ smiled. "Juice?"

"No, I'm fine."

"We have the meeting with the lawyer this afternoon, talk about the next mediation."

"I know."

"I don't want you to be pressured into anything, I just..." JJ stopped when he saw the look on her face. "What? What is it?"

"It's from Ryan," she said, "well, Ryan's lawyer."

"I didn't think you two were involving lawyers?"

"We weren't, but... he has to now." She handed the letter over to JJ.

"Can he... can he do this?"

Olivia didn't say anything, just put her head into her hands and cried.

"Liv... tell me what you need," JJ said, kneeling in front of her. "I want to help, tell me what you need."

She reached out for him, wrapping her arms around his neck, and just held on.

~~

Sonny looked up when the mug appeared in view; at the end of the arm holding it was a grinning Will.

"Did I look that bad?" Sonny laughed.

"That, and you barely slept last night."

"Neither did you," Sonny grinned, laughing when Will flushed with mild embarrassment. "But I'm not complaining."

Will leaned over to kiss him, laughing when Sonny deepened it, pulling him down into his lap.

"Your dad said he'd come over later," Will said.

"Are you trying to ruin the mood?" Sonny pouted.

"Yes," he replied, "because we both have work to do."

"Spoilsport."

"Anyway, we need to come up with a strategy for the next mediation."

"You mean besides me... not losing it?" Sonny asked.

"Beside that," Will said, kissing Sonny's forehead. "Have you thought any more about... my idea?"

"Which, for the record, made for the _worst_ pillow talk."

"Oh hush," Will said, before kissing him gently.

"You sure you don't want to do the passport idea?"

"Sure."

"Option D?"

"Sonny," Will warned. "I know you want things to be different, but we have to be realistic."

"I know," he said. "Didn't you say something about work?"

"Fine," Will sighed. "Your dad's coming over at two, your mom said she'd watch Ari."

"Got it all planned," Sonny smiled as the laptop pinged with an incoming email. "Go on, go write your bestseller."

"You keep the clubs going," Will said, giving Sonny a final kiss before getting out of his lap.

Sonny pulled up the email, reading the single line of text from Victor.

 

_Are you sure that you want to proceed?_

 

He quickly typed his reply, sending it before looking over at where Will was setting up at his desk. Will always found writing to music helpful, so the headphones were already in, the volume set so that there was the tinny whisper of noise coming from them, a beat that Sonny watched Will's head bop along to.

Sonny's finger hovered over the mouse pad, summoning the courage to do it. He loved his husband, he loved his family, more than anything else in this world. And he would therefore do anything to keep them together, keep them safe.

Without taking his eyes off Will, he clicked the mouse button and heard the soft whoosh which indicated the mail had been sent.

He had to do this. He didn't have a choice.

 

_Yes, I'm sure. I cannot watch my son being a part of someone else's family. Put everything in place, we'll sort a date for leaving as soon as possible after the birth._

_Not a word to anyone, please: even Will. Especially Will._

_Thank you._

~~

When Jennifer came home she hesitated by the front door, the events of the last hour running through her mind. At that point she hadn't quite decided what she was going to do, but when she saw JJ her mind was made up.

"Hey, Mom. How was Aunt Maggie?"

"Yeah, she's good," Jennifer said. "Where's Olivia?"

"Lying down. She..."

"What?"

"We got some news this morning," JJ said.

"About the mediation?"

"No. From her ex. He's got a new job so he's moving, and he's taking Lily with him."

"I'm guessing that this move isn't just down the road."

"Try interstate. Liv's not handling it well."

"I can imagine," Jennifer said quietly. "There's something you should know."

"What?"

"I overheard something while I was at Aunt Maggie's. Something that... well. I wouldn't put it past them."

"What past who?" JJ asked. "Mom, you're kinda scaring me now."

"Good," she said, "because if what I heard was true then I think we should be scared."

~~

"Just remember—"

"I know, Dad," Sonny sighed. "Stay calm, don't overreact. Let you and Will do all the talking."

"Good boy," Justin quipped. "Bite your tongue if you have to, but no more outbursts."

"Just remember that this is the first step, OK?" Will whispered, finding Sonny's hand under the table. He moved it to his own knee where it rested. "Baby steps."

"Baby steps for our baby," Sonny grinned.

"Here we go," Justin said as the door opened and JJ and Olivia's lawyer walked in, followed by the couple who looked, well, pissed.

"For you," the lawyer said, putting a piece of paper down in front of Justin.

"What's this?"

"Application for a court hearing."

"What?" Will asked. "I thought we were here to try and work things out. I thought we were—"

"Just going to wait until the baby's born then leave the country?" JJ challenged.

Beside Will, Sonny froze almost imperceptibly. But his hand, still on Will's knee, revealed the truth to his husband.

"We know that you're arranging with Victor to get the baby a passport. We know that you tried to work on Liv so that he'd stay with you and we'd get access. What? Trying to get it so that we'd not notice until you were on a plane? No doubt halfway 'round the world and we'd never see any of you again.

"Well it's not happening, do you hear me?" JJ continued. "You know, until we found out about this we were actually considering your offer, Will. Trying to make the best of this situation, keep everyone happy. But this? This is low, even for a Kiriakis."

"Now hold on," Justin said, looking over the paper. "Where's your evidence of this? All I hear is accusations and not much proof."

"We have a recorded conversation," the lawyer said. "A discussion about arranging a baby's passport, no questions asked."

"And when was this conversation supposed to take place?"

"You can't argue your way out of this one," JJ snapped. "My mom was trying to get hold of Abby the other day, but the call ended up going to voicemail. She didn't hang up properly so it recorded the conversation that was going on in the next room."

"What conversation?" Will asked, his stomach sinking with realisation.

"Victor Kiriakis," the lawyer said, "discussing with a contact about arranging a US passport for a baby. More than enough grounds to convince a judge that my clients are the better suited parents."

"We would have let you be a part of his life," JJ snapped at Will and Sonny. "We have never once said that Sonny's not the dad, or that Will can't be a part of Alex's life."

"Alex?" Will asked. "You... you _named_ him?"

"We'll be doing a lot more now," JJ said. "We'll see you in court."

"Oh, and while we haven't taken out a restraining order," the lawyer continued, "I would strongly advise that your clients keep their distance from mine. Harassment on top of conspiracy to kidnap? Won't look good."

When they were alone in the room, Justin fixed his gaze on the page he'd been presented with, and said in an illusion of calm, "Please tell me that this is all one big misunderstanding."

There was a moment's silence before Sonny finally braved, "Dad—"

"Don't. I can't hear this," Justin cut across. "Not if I'm going to keep representing you. Not if I'm going to still think of you as my son."

With that he got up and left, leaving Will and Sonny sat alone at the table. Sonny's hand was no longer on Will's knee, and although they were side by side there was a gulf between them.

"Will, I—"

"I need to get out of here," Will said, pushing his chair back and getting to his feet.

Sonny reached out and grabbed his hand. "I just wanted to—"

"I'll walk home," Will said tersely, pulling his hand free. "I need time to think."

"Please..." Sonny said, but without even looking back Will left.

And then Sonny was alone.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> To all of you who are still hanging in there, here - have a brownie. They're homemade and awesome.
> 
> For those of you yelling "why is this person doing this thing", fear not. We will touch in with EVERY person involved in this, and there will be full exploration of ideas, motives, reasons, feelings... Just give me time, yeah? Thanks. Have another brownie.
> 
> And I hope that, in some small way, this starts to make things a little better for y'all.

"Ever think about it?" Grant asked as they looked up at the stars in the deep black. "The future, I mean."

"What?" Sonny asked. "Like which country next?"

"No. Like... long term. Getting married. Having kids. A house and a dog and all that."

"So the light stuff then," Sonny laughed.

"So. Ever think about it?"

"You know it's not that easy for me."

"It'll happen. World's-a-changing, Sonny."

"Not that fast," Sonny laughed.

"Doesn't mean you can't think about it."

"Look at my life," Sonny said, turning his head away from the stars to look at his friend. "Look at us. We pick a place and off we go. Nothing holding us back, tying us down."

"You know it's not supposed to be like that."

"I just can't imagine it," Sonny said. "I know that for so many people it's... well, it's everything. But I just don't see it."

"Is this a gay thing?"

"Yes, Grant," Sonny intoned, "it's a gay thing. We are incapable of ever forming lasting connections with another human being and without the guiding influence of a mother we will just ruin the life of any child that we are given."

"OK, maybe I deserved that one."

"I don't know. The idea of meeting someone I want to spend my forever with?"

"I hear that it can happen. Even to those of the homosexual persuasion."

"The homo-- I'm going to hit you. I'm going to hit you and leave you behind."

"Seriously, Sonny. You ever think about it? Getting married? Having kids?"

"No," he said. "I just... I can't imagine it. Maybe it's not for me. Don't get me wrong, I know that it can be great. I know that. My parents, they get it right... most of the time that is," he laughed. "The way I see it... the more you love someone the more power they have over you. I see it, all the time. Love is hurt."

"They say it's worth it though," Grant offered.

"Maybe."

"For what it's worth? You'd make a great dad."

"God knows I look after you enough," Sonny laughed. "Where's this coming from?"

"My brother's getting married. Oh, and I'm gonna be an uncle."

"When?"

"Next month and then next year."

"Guess that's the next location on the trip sorted."

"What?"

"The wedding?"

"Maybe."

"Maybe?" Sonny asked. "This is family."

"He's the golden boy. He has his life together. Perfect job, perfect wife, perfect child probably."

"You love them?"

"What?"

"Your brother?"

"Yeah."

"His fiancée?"

"Yeah, she's... she's perfect for him. They're amazing together."

"Then you have to do this. Because that's what love is, right? Doing things for those you love?"

"Even if—"

"No matter what," Sonny said. "I love my family, Grant. I adore them. For them? I'd do anything."

"And you still don't see yourself being able to love someone like that?"

"Honestly?" Sonny said. "I'm scared of it. Of loving someone that much? Doing anything for them?"

"What about having someone love you that much?"

"Even scarier," Sonny laughed. "Imagine having that and then screwing it up?"

"Imagine having it and _not_ screwing it up," Grant countered. "Imagine that. Living out your forever stupid fucking in love with one person and raising two fucking perfect children in a house with a dog or some shit and being... just _happy_ for your forever."

"See, this is why the media needs to be taken to task," Sonny said. "Where does all that happen outside of a Disney movie?"

"Well, we need to believe in something, right?"

"And you want to believe in that?"

"Well, seeing as apparently I'm going home next month to watch it in action, be nice if I actually considered the idea." There was a pause before, in a tone that would be mocking at best, Grant asked, "You could come as my date? Freak out everyone with the idea of us being a couple? C'mon, Sonny. I'll call you my date and you can drop some gay line and then we'll just... I don't know. Have some fun."

Sonny laughed. "I'd rather go home," he said.

"Bull."

"I'm not going to let you use my sexuality as some kind of game."

"You're no fun."

"And you are the worst friend ever."

"No, I'm just the friend who doesn't give a fuck who you fuck, and I will treat your sexuality like everyone treats heterosexual people; with dismissive comments and utter apathy. And you like that I don't give a fuck, this is why we're friends."

"That, and your lack of morals."

"Life's better without limits," Grant laughed.

"Line test," Sonny said. "Would you break the law for the person you loved?"

"Easy: yes," he replied.

"No limits? Not even for something like—"

"Murder? Were you seriously going to say murder? Sonny, that's easy. You kill someone, they're dead, trail can end there. What you want is the crime that doesn't stop. Something where, at any given moment, there could be a knock at the door and it's game over. But you still do it because you love them."

"And you wonder why I don't see me ever loving someone like that?" Sonny laughed.

"You have a point, Mr Halo."

"Mr Halo?"

"You know what I want? I want to live long enough to see you do something reckless for the man you love. I want to be there in the moment when you realise that you have no limits when it comes to them. I want to see you put it all on the line for your family and I want to see the look on your face when you realise that now? In this moment? You had no idea what was coming your way."

"You want to live long enough to see that?"

"Yeah."

"You're going to live forever."

"I either die being proved right, or I prove all the doctors wrong. Win-win."

"Grant—"

"I'll go to the wedding, you go home. Go... do something with your life, Sonny."

"I am," he said. "I'm travelling the world. Seeing what's out there."

"Go see what's at home. I'll go... be the good little brother and stand up for him at his wedding. And I'll see if I can stick around long enough for junior to put in an appearance."

"Hey, what if—"

"Yeah, they're already thinking along those lines," Grant said. "Odds are pretty good, families usually are. Guess I lucked out with mine then. But I can't put that on the kid. Two seconds into this world and they'll be drawing blood to see if it's a match to its screwed-up uncle, and if it is then what? We start poking and prodding it? Can't do that."

"That," Sonny said, turning his head back towards Grant. "That's love."

"What?"

"Sometimes it's not about doing something _for_ them. Sometimes it's about... _not_ doing it."

"Sonny?"

"Yeah?"

"This is a pretty deep conversation we're having, isn't it?"

"Yeah."

"Know what I think?"

"What?"

"I think that we are nowhere near sober enough for this. Or female enough."

Sonny laughed and got to his feet, holding out a hand to help Grant up. "Come on. Let's go drink to the happy couple and their baby news, and then we can work out how you can survive the wedding."

"And then hopefully not much longer after that," Grant said. "Sorry. I know you hate that."

"That's my problem, not yours."

"Doesn't matter. Besides, I'm living until you're loved up."

"Then I promise to stay single for the rest of my life."

"Really?"

"Really." He coughed and held up his right hand in a pledge. "I, Jackson Kiriakis, do swear to Grant Alexander, that I will never love another person so deeply that I would... I don't know. Break the law for them, lie, cheat, steal for them, all of that. I will never be a husband or a father, and if I do then he has my permission to let that fucked up disease kill him."

"Your permission?" Grant laughed, dusting himself down.

"Kiriakis word is law," Sonny said, "my Uncle Vic taught me that. Say what you mean, mean what you say, do what you say you'll do."

"He sounds like an awesome man."

"You should come to Salem after the wedding then," Sonny said. "Meet him. He'll probably be in the middle of disowning me when he finds out that I'm gay, but—"

"Oh, can I play the role of the boyfriend?"

"Why are you so desperate for people to think we're a couple?" Sonny laughed as he slung an arm around Grant's shoulders. "I'm starting to think that you might be a little bit in love with me."

"I am _totally_ in love with you," Grant said, kissing Sonny's cheek. "If you lost the Adam's Apple, had some tits, and a—"

"And this is why I prefer guys," Sonny cut across with a laugh.

"I love that it weirds you out," Grant laughed. "Like... you've never even seen one and all I have to do is just—"

"You want me to start talking about gay sex?" Sonny countered. "Because we both know that weirds you out."

"Man, it's going to be a long few weeks without you," Grant said. "Promise me as soon as I'm done with the wedding we'll head off again?"

"Deal," Sonny said, offering his hand to seal it.

"Say what you mean, mean what you say, remember?"

"Of course," Sonny grinned.

When they parted company at the airport a few weeks later, each flying to different states, they had the thought in the back of their mind that it would be the last time they saw each other. It was Grant who called it. On one of their last calls, just a few days after his brother's wedding, Grant pointed out to Sonny that he'd mentioned Will's name almost ten times in as many minutes.

The day Sonny realised that he was falling in love with Will was the last day they spoke. Grant's final words to him: "I was right".

~~

When the door to the apartment finally opened, Sonny was on his feet in seconds. He had a million lines running through his mind of what he could say to Will, but that all depended on what Will said first. And he would speak first. Sonny would listen to Will, hear him out, and address the issues as raised. He would say what he needed to in order to try and put this right.

But it wasn't Will who spoke.

"Papa! I rode the horses today!" Ari declared.

"What?" Sonny asked, surprised not only at her statement but at her presence.

"I know you said I was too little but Uncle Vic got me a little horse and I rode it."

"Remember what we said baby horses are called?"

"Pony," Ari said, proud of herself for remembering.

"I know we said she'd have to wait, but you know what your Uncle Vic is like," Will said, his tone suddenly pointed and heavy. "Just goes on and does things he shouldn't."

"I'm gonna learn," Ari said, looking up at her papa with big brown eyes. "I'm gonna practice and I'll get real good and I promise I wear the hat and things the man asked me to."

"Man?" Sonny asked, his head still swimming in confusion.

"Victor knows a lot of people," Will said, still being pointed in his word choice. "He's hired someone to teach her. Specialises in child riders. The decision was made without saying anything to me, so I didn't get a say."

"My hor-pony is so pretty, I love him and I can learn to take real good care of him, Papa."

"It's done now," Will said, putting Arianna's things on the desk. "Baby, you need to go wash up if we're going to go out for dinner."

"Out?" Sonny asked as Ari charged into her room.

"Didn't really feel like cooking, I thought we'd go to the pub. It's not like we eat out all the time so once won't hurt."

"Will—"

"I'm just going to get changed," Will continued, already pulling at his tie.

"We need to talk, Will—"

"No we don't," Will said firmly, walking into their room and closing the door behind him.

~~

When they met Abe and Theo in the square they stopped and chatted like they had always done. Ari babbled on about her new pony, the adults making small talk. In the pub they were as they had always been, Will even putting an arm over the back of Sonny's chair while Ari told Grandma Caroline all about the pony and how she was going to take care of it. For a large portion of the walk home Will's hand was in Sonny's, dropped only when they opened the apartment door and he followed Ari into her room to help her get ready for bed.

Sonny was on bedtime story duty, so Will tidied up the apartment, putting things back where they belonged just before Sonny returned.

"So are we not going to talk about it?" Sonny asked.

"What's to talk about?" Will said. "You did it without talking to me. Worse, you went behind my back to do it. I just—"

"I wanted to keep us together," Sonny said. "The four of us, like it's supposed to be."

"So never mind Gabi. Never mind Rafe. Never mind my parents and your parents. Never mind anyone who knows us and loves us. We'll just run away and keep running for the rest of our lives. I told you I didn't want that and you went ahead to do it anyway."

"Will—" Sonny started, but stopped when Will turned away from him, finishing the last of the washing up from breakfast. "So... what about us?"

"There's isn't an us," Will said coldly, "not right now. Not while I'm this mad at you."

"Do you want me to go?"

"No," Will snapped, turning around. "No you don't get to do that. You don't get to walk away from this mess, from this hole you've carved out in us. Arianna noticed when you were gone for one night, I am not having her wonder where her papa is. You are staying and as far as everyone else in this world is concerned you and I are fine."

"You can't expect me to pretend—"

"You've been doing it just fine these last few weeks," Will pointed out. "Pretending that you weren't planning to kidnap..." He gave a soft laugh. "Kidnap Alex and run away with him. So just pretend that nothing's changed for us and we'll—"

"What? Be fine?" Sonny challenged. "I'm sorry that this happened, Will, but—"

"Sorry that you did it or sorry that Jennifer overheard and actually _recorded_ Victor talking about it? I just... When you and I first got together there was this guy on my course, really nice guy, but wondered why I was getting involved with the Kiriakis family. I mean, he didn't know that I'm hardly saint-like, but the Kiriakis family? There's a reputation there. This is not a family you mess with.

"I told him that you weren't like that. That my Sonny? He's not really one of them. He's a good man, a decent man, honourable. He is kind and loving and so generous with everything that he has. He's selfless too, almost to the point where sometimes, when the light's on him, you'd swear that you saw a halo." He gave a soft laugh. "I was young and naïve."

"I did this _because_ I love you," Sonny said. "I did this because I love you and Ari and that baby. Because I want us to be a family and I will do anything—"

"Oh I know that," Will said. "I know you'd do anything for us, and it doesn't matter what I want, what I ask you to do."

"Of course it matters—"

"I asked you not to do this. I told you that I wasn't going to do this and that if you did it then you did it alone. And that wasn't enough for you."

"You were angry, and I—"

"No, that wasn't angry. That wasn't even close to it."

"So come on then, let's do this. Let's talk and shout and fight it out."

"Why?" Will asked. "What would that change? Would it make it all better? Would it mean that you suddenly didn't lie to me, go behind my back? Would it mean that JJ and Olivia weren't taking us to court with _proof_ that you planned to kidnap the baby? Would it mean that whatever good standing we may have had in this case has been shot to hell, and that if we're lucky we may end up being able to see him unsupervised?

"Because I don't see how us doing anything is going to make any of that happen. I don't. All I see it doing is us making a lot of noise and making things worse. Right now all I care about is making sure that my daughter has the best, most stable home possible for her. And that's what I'm going to do.

"So you don't get to walk out, Sonny. You don't get to leave or abandon us."

"I would never—"

"You stay, we carry on. For Arianna's sake, for everyone's sake."

"And what about ours?"

"We're parents, Sonny," Will said. "The kids have to come first. Always."

With that Will went into their room, closing the door to instead of all the way. Sonny waited a few hours before joining him, by which time Will was fast asleep, curled up on his side of the bed, facing outwards. Sonny's side was cold, missing the radiated heat and shared body of every other night, but he did nothing to fight it. He lay there and stared at the ceiling until he fell asleep out of boredom more than anything else.

~~

"...so the date is set. Three weeks from now."

"How quickly will this be resolved?" Will asked. "Three weeks puts Olivia into her eighth month. I want this sorted before he's born."

"Depends on their case," Justin said. "Sometimes things like this can be worked out in a couple of weeks. Sometimes they drag on for months."

"Usually?"

"...Months," Justin admitted.

"So he'll be born, and be being raised by Olivia and JJ before any decision is made?"

"Or we could work out a deal beforehand," Justin said. "Most cases are sorted out of court."

"Do you think they'll accept my original offer of him residing with us?"

"After the stunt with the passport?" Justin said, trying hard not to look at Sonny, "Probably not."

"Have they offered an agreement?"

"No, but I can sound out their lawyer? See what they're prepared to offer?"

"Please," Will said. "We close on the house next week and I just... I want this sorted."

"I can understand that," Justin said, going back to his papers.

"I'm going for some air," Sonny said, opening his mouth for the first time in the meeting. He got up and walked out of the room, closing the door behind him.

"I know I'm being hard on him—" Justin started.

"I don't blame you," Will cut across. "I am... I have _never_ been so mad at him. Ever. Not even when I found out he knew about Gabi."

"Why did he even think he would get away with it?"

"I wish I knew. How badly has this screwed our case?"

"Badly," Justin said. "You're flight risks now. Expect any agreement to come with very strict limitations. If they get residence, and I hate to say it that's looking likely, then you'll most likely have time limits and deadlines. Go over them..."

"Could we lose him?" Will asked.

"I wouldn't worry about that," Justin said. "Only the worst of parents are refused any kind of contact, and even with Sonny's... lapse in judgement you're not that."

"I just keep picturing supervised visits."

"Probably realistic to. I would imagine that, for the first few months, they'll insist that you're not alone with him. We can talk about keeping officials out of it; one of them, even Jennifer could supervise. Staying in public, well monitored places, that sort of thing. Our job now is to show willing, to stick to the rules, and make sure that we are presenting the best case possible."

"Have you heard the recording?"

"It was sent over yesterday."

"And?"

"And there's Victor, clear as anything, talking about arranging the baby's passport."

"Does he mention Sonny? Or Olivia or any of us?"

"No, but it's clear who he's talking about."

"What do you suggest?"

"As your lawyer or as your father-in-law?"

"Both?" Will said with a soft laugh.

"As your lawyer? Go above and beyond to show that you are willing to play by the rules. Let me argue the finer points, keep any outburst or comments about being unfair to yourself, even in public. Hell, even in private.

"And as your father-in-law?" Justin sighed. "Try to find a way to make peace with Sonny."

"What?"

"I know you two. I knew how madly you were in love when you were just starting out, and as soon as Sonny stood by you with Arianna I knew, without a doubt, that you were the one that he was going to spend the rest of his life with. I've watched you two fall more in love with each other and I've watched you go from strength to strength. So believe me, I know that something isn't right between you two.

"Oh, you're doing a good job of making it look like everything's fine. But you can't fool someone who knows how to spot a lie."

"It's just... it's hard," Will admitted.

"Do you still love him?"

"Of course I do. It would be easier if I didn't. You know how much I love him and so I can't... I just... I don't know how to deal with this. What his actions mean for us."

"And you won't until you talk to him."

"I'm scared."

"Of what? It not working out?"

"No. Of what he might say."

"Will, Sonny _adores_ you. He is miserable and I know it's because things aren't right between you two."

"But that doesn't change the fact that he was prepared to get the baby a passport and just leave."

"Granted, not his finest moment, but I get where he was coming from. You know as well as I do that when it comes to our children we have no limits. There is nothing that we won't do for them. And for Sonny? That was what he felt he had to do."

"I understand that, I always have," Will said, "but it's the fact that he—"

Will got no further as he was interrupted by Sonny's return.

"Mom was wondering if we would be finished for lunch?" Sonny asked.

"I think we're done here?" Will said, looking over at Justin.

"Yeah, we are. Think on what I said though?"

"Think on what?" Sonny asked.

"Advice for the court hearing," Will dismissed, trying to ignore the look on Justin's face. "What to say, what not to say."

"Right."

"We should go make sure Ari's not demanding ice cream for lunch," Will said, walking past Sonny without so much as a touch or a smile.

Justin watched the life seem to fall from his son, and with it his residual anger went. "Sonny—"

"I know, I know. I screwed up. This is all my fault. I was stupid, I should never have even thought about running away. And now I'm paying for it. I just wanted to have a family, I wanted my family, together, Dad, and now I'm losing it. I'm losing Will and when I lose him I'll lose Arianna."

Justin said nothing, just got to his feet and walked over to his son.

"My husband hates me, my parents hate me—"

"I don't hate you, Sonny," Justin said, "and neither does your mother. We can't. We love you too much to ever hate you. And Will loves you just as much."

"He hasn't—"

"He is angry, it will pass. He loves you."

"I miss him."

Justin found no more words, just reached out to his son and pulled him in for a hug. "He loves you, Sonny. More than I ever hoped someone would. More than I could have dreamed someone could. But when you love someone that much? When you love with great passion? Your anger has the same."

"I can't lose him, Dad. I can't lose him and I can't lose Ari."

"I know." Justin pulled back, his hands on Sonny's shoulders. "You remember that night in the hospital? When I waited with you for Will?"

Sonny's eyes drifted shut. "I'll never forget it."

"You were so sure, so sure, that the worst was going to happen. That you were going to lose him. And he thought he was going to lose you when you went in for that operation to save Arianna. You two love each other too much to just let each other go. I daresay you don't know how to. Give him time, Sonny. Trust me on this, and give him time."

"I'd give him forever if I thought it would make a difference."

"It won't be that long," Justin laughed softly. "Come have some lunch. Come sit with your old parents and your husband and your daughter and we can be a normal family for a little while."

"Dad?"

"Yeah?"

"What exactly is normal?"

"I have no idea," Justin laughed, "but let's go see if we can work it out."

There was a space for Sonny at the table next to Will and he took it, as well as the kiss on the cheek that was offered. It was the same old act, the same presentation of a happy couple.

Today, however, Will moved his hand under the table where it was not on show. It rested on Sonny's knee for a moment, and Sonny looked over at Will, half in amazement, half in gratitude. There was no eye contact, no smile where there usually was, but Sonny was grateful for it all the same. His own hand moved to cover it and for a few seconds it was as if they were as they had been.

They were as Sonny hoped they could be again.

~~

"One very large coffee," Lucas ordered, dropping the bill onto the bar. He looked up as the door opened, and sighed. "To go," he added. "Quick as you can."

"So it's come to this," Jennifer said as she put her bag onto the bar to wait her turn, "can't even stand to be in the same room as me?"

"Just tryin' to avoid words," Lucas said, not even looking over at her.

"And why would there be words?"

"Because your son is trying to screw up my son's life," Lucas said sharply. "And I am trying, for his sake, to be civil."

"Civil? After what he and Sonny—"

"OK, no, you need to stop now," Lucas said. "You see me getting involved in this? No. It is killing me to but this is not my fight. I have no place in this so I am staying clear. Believe me, Jen, I want to say so much that it actually _hurts_. But I don't because it's not my place."

"So I should just stand by and let Will and Sonny destroy their lives?"

"Thank you," Lucas said as his coffee was placed down, "keep the change. And you, my dear sister, you need to think long and hard before you start going on about who is ruining whose lives. Especially when out in public."

"And why is that?"

"Because when you're in Sonny's bar, surrounded by his friends – because that's what all of my son-in-law's staff are to him – if you want serving then I'd be careful over what you say."

As if to prove the point, the man behind the bar walked off without even a glance in Jennifer's direction.

"I just—"

"Isn't the right to refuse service great?" Lucas grinned.

"So you're getting in on the bully tactics now?"

"Look, I 'ain't saying that this situation is easy or good for anyone. But it's not your situation to be in."

"So I shouldn't support my son?"

"That's your choice to, Jen, and I get why you are, I really do. But tell me this – do you think JJ and Olivia could do this without you?"

"But they don't have to—"

"And Will doesn't have to do this without me or Sami butting in with our help and support. But you know something? I know that my son is capable of doin' just fine without me. Hardest thing I ever had to do, stand back and watch him do his own thing. But it was also the proudest moment of my life.

"My son is an amazing father, an amazing husband. That little family are good and happy and strong. They have survived so much and come through it all together. Will doesn't need me in his corner, but I'll be there if he asks for me."

"JJ doesn't need to ask for me, I'm always there."

"And you don't see that as a problem?" Lucas asked. "If JJ really is planning on being a father to my boys' son, then he should be able to do this himself. He needs to, Jen. You cannot be a father if your own parent is standing over your shoulder doing the work for you."

"Sounds like you're taking sides."

"Look around you, Jen, the whole town is taking sides," he said. "You're not getting a coffee in here any time soon, there's a side. DiMeras and Kiriakis, drawing up lines against the Hortons. I love you, god knows I do. But I love my son. I love my granddaughter. I love my son-in-law."

"I love my son."

"I know you do, Jen. Enough to let him do this alone?"

Jennifer said nothing and Lucas left her, standing ignored beside the bar of the club. 

~~

Will stalled as he came through the door to the apartment, fronted up with low lighting, candles, the smell of something that was clearly the result of time, effort and preparation, and the absence of a five-year old child running towards him with a million stories about her day.

"Mom's getting some quality grandma time in," Sonny explained as he handed over a glass of wine. "Girls' sleepover."

"Sonny—"

"Please don't do this."

"Do what?"

"Object. Don't ruin this. We can have a nice evening together. A good night."

"And then what? We're suddenly fixed and it's all happy endings?"

"No, but—"

"Dinner and wine and candles aren't going to fix this, Sonny."

" _Well then tell me what is!_ " Sonny yelled suddenly. "Tell me. Tell me what I have to do to fix this and I will do it because I cannot take any more of this, Will, I just can't. I can't be here with you and not be with you. I can't hang on to the little touches and moments that you deign to give me."

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't... I shouldn't have done that to you."

"What? Now you're taking what little affection you do show me away? Are we over, Will? Is that what this is? Because I can't just stand around while you make up your mind. It's _killing_ me and—"

"And you think it's not killing me?" Will asked, putting the glass down before he gave in to his urge to throw it. "You think that I don't want--?"

"What? What do you want, Will? Because right now I don't think it's me. I don't think—"

" _I want my husband back!_ " he yelled. "I want my best friend back, I want the man who I have shared every second of my life, every bit of my heart with. I want my husband back, the man who I love more than I know what to do with and I want the man that I _trust_ with my everything back."

"Trust," Sonny repeated carefully.

"You lied to me."

"I know, I—"

"You lied to me and you were going to get him a passport, even after I said that if you do it then you do it without me, and you made your choice and I know I need to accept that and—"

"Wait, choice?" Sonny interrupted. "What choice?"

"Him over me," Will said quietly, a note of defeat in his voice. "And I get it, I do. Remember when Gabi talked about going to New York? I'd have gone too, you know I would have. Ari's my girl and she has to come first. And Alex is your boy and I know you need to put him first. So of course you chose him and—"

"You think I chose him over you?"

"You organised the passport. You were going to leave even when you knew I wouldn't," Will said. "What else is that?"

"Me choosing our family?"

"By leaving me. Leaving us?"

"Will, why would I--?"

"I'm not mad at you for that. Well, I am," he added, "but I get it. I'm mad at you because I wish you'd talked to me. I'm mad at you because you promised me forever and I know things change, that's what life is, but I still have this stupid idea of us in that house with Arianna and Alex and getting a dog and—"

For years they had been stopping the other with kisses. Grabbed moments where need and desire overcame lead ins and introductions. What was between them at the moment was fragile and breaking, and Sonny knew that overstepping could make it worse.

But he was unable to stop himself.

He pulled Will in close to him, a hand on Will's jaw guiding him in for a kiss while the other arm wound around his waist, pulling their bodies in flush. Instinctively Will gave into the kiss, offered no resistance, and Sonny pushed on, kissed harder, fought to take the very breath from Will's lungs.

"The idea of leaving you, I just... I can't even imagine it," Sonny whispered into Will's skin as he placed reverent kisses along Will's jaw line. "You are my heartbeat, Will. You're my heart and Ari is my air and I can't be if I'm without either of you. I wasn't choosing the baby over you. I was choosing us."

"But I said—"

"I was hoping I could change your mind," Sonny admitted gently, pulling back to put a little distance between them. "I just thought... hoped... But I don't want to be anywhere that you're not, OK? That hasn't changed. That won't change. You have to know that, Will. You know that, right?"

"I know you gave me up once," Will replied dully. "I know that you loved me and you gave me up. I know that you'd never ask me to pull my family apart. I know how much you want to be a dad—"

"I _am_ a dad," Sonny countered. "We need to stop this. Arianna is not _your_ daughter and he is not _my_ son. _They_ are _ours_ , Will. Both of them. I love them, I love you—"

"I love you, but that doesn't make everything better," Will said. He moved back into Sonny's space, almost nuzzling his cheek as they held onto each other. "I wish it did, I really do. I wish that because I love you more than anything else in this life that I could go to bed with you now and be with you and that when we wake up tomorrow everything will be magically fixed but it won't."

"It's a start," Sonny said in hope.

"Does it change the damage that's done?"

"To us or to the case?"

"...Both," Will decided on.

"I don't care what I have to do, Will. I will make it right for us."

"Sonny..." Will breathed right before he found himself kissing Sonny again. This time it was slower, more loving, as he moved them towards the direction of the bedroom. When Sonny stopped and pulled away Will wondered if it was too much, too soon, but he bit back a laugh as Sonny quickly turned the oven off and then he was back in front of him.

"Would like to not burn the apartment down," Sonny quipped.

"See? Now that is a good idea," Will laughed, holding Sonny's face as he kissed him.

The move from the moment with them in the living room and clothed, to the moment with them being on the bed and naked, flowed as easily as moments between them had in the past. Will pulled Sonny up into his lap, one hand skimming down the curve and bumps of Sonny's spine while the other reached out for the always-on-hand tube in the bedside drawer.

"I'm sorry," Sonny whispered, holding Will's face in his hands. "For—"

"Shhh," Will soothed, kissing him silent.

When the prep was done and the bottle duly discarded, Sonny's hands were firm on Sonny's hips, moving him into place.

"Oh god," Sonny breathed as he settled down. "I thought... I would lie here next to you each night and I thought I'd never—"

"Don't get rid of me that easily," Will laughed softly, one hand carding through the hair at the base of Sonny's skull. "You and me. Always."

"Forever?"

The word as a question betrayed Sonny's fear that, even though they were here, together in the most intimate of ways, he still feared that loss.

"I don't think I know how not to be in love with you," Will said. "I hated you for what you did to us... but I still loved you. I always loved you. Always will. You're my forever, Sonny."

"Forever," Sonny repeated, this time not a question, as he started to move.

It could have been just sex, it could have just been a patch on their relationship. But somewhere between frantic, hungry kisses, and Will's hand finding its way to Sonny's own straining erection, they found each other again. Hurts bared before being kissed and soothed away. Souls open once more and their homes found.

And when they came it was with the other's name on their lips and in their hearts.

"I really hate to ruin the moment," Sonny said, still pitched forward against Will's chest, his lips brushing against Will's neck, "but I really need to go... clean up."

"Be quick," Will said, kissing him hard.

While Sonny was in the shower Will stripped back the sheets, bundling them into the basket to be dealt with later. By the time his husband returned, hair damp and body water warm, the bed was set with crisp, dark sheets and a still-naked grinning Will sitting up against the headboard. Sonny laughed softly, let the towel drop, and crawled across the bed to him. There was tumbling and tossing and rolling until they were kissed out, wrapped up in the sheets together.

"Did you really think I would leave you?" Sonny asked.

"Old habits," Will shrugged. "I don't know. It... I don't know."

"When you come from a Greek family," Sonny said, shifting on the bed so he was propped up on one hand, "you get a lot of comments about Greek mythology, Greek history, Greek food. Basically you're supposed to be a walking encyclopaedia of the whole country and culture, and in the end I found it easier to shut them up by learning a few basic things.

"So when they made comment about food, I recited a recipe at them. Music? I hummed a few bars. And when it came to mythology... I used this as a comeback, said they were lost, but..." He stopped and held Will's gaze. "When humans were created we had four arms, four legs, two faces. All in one body. We were strong and the gods feared us, so Zeus split us into two people. Two arms, two legs, one face. We were divided and cursed to spend our days looking for our other half. Looking for that person who makes us whole.

"You don't just make me whole, Will, you _make_ me. Before I met you I was just a combination of travel stories and experiences. Things that are transient and fluid. I can remember what it was like to stand at the top of K2, I can recall how I felt, but... But when I'm with you? Hell, even when I'm not. Because I love you, because I am yours, that makes everything around me real. It makes everything about me strong and solid.

"It makes my life whole. Not just the moments and the events, but the days that connect them. All of them, Will. You make my days real. You and Arianna and—"

"Alex," Will prompted. "You don't call him that."

"I can't."

"Because that's what Olivia chose?"

"No. Because it's what I would have chosen."

"I... oh," Will said, the memory loosened by Sonny's mention of travels. "I like it."

"Maybe, if we can still work out shared custody, it'll be a way of establishing common ground?"

"Maybe," Will said.

"You don't think we'll get shared custody, do you?"

"I think... I think that there's plenty we need to work on first."

"Like how we make a case for being involved in the first place?" Sonny asked, lying down on the bed and staring at the ceiling. He moved only when Will curled into his side, moving an arm so that he could lay on it. "I screwed up."

"It happens."

"Yeah, but this—"

"Don't, Sonny. Just..." Will kissed the part of Sonny's chest that was within reach, and then traced unseen patterns with his fingertips. "Don't."

"OK," Sonny whispered. "You know that I would do anything for you, don't you? I need you with me."

"I need you," Will replied. "You and me. Always."

"Forever."

"Forever."

~~

For a moment Sonny just watched Will. Well, to be more specific, he watched the gentle ripple and flex of the muscles in his back as he put together some food. Whilst there was more to the attraction than looks, Sonny couldn't deny that his husband was beautiful outside as well as in, and it just made moments like this a little more enjoyable.

When Will turned to the refrigerator and saw he had an audience, he stopped only to grin before popping a piece of fruit into his mouth. Then he grabbed a water before returning to the bowl he was preparing.

"Morning," Sonny said, pressing up against that beautiful back and wrapping his arms around Will's waist.

"Morning. It's pretty much dessert for breakfast, but then fruit works for both."

"I'm starving," Sonny said. He laughed when Will held out a piece of fruit over his shoulder, and when he went to take it he wrapped his lips around as much of Will's fingers as possible, sucking hard as he took the offered food. Will's soft moan was the desired response, and Sonny's hands moved down from Will's waist to rest on his hip bones, fingers splaying out but just out of reach of where they both were wanting them to be. 

"I thought you were starving."

"I didn't say what for," Sonny laughed, kissing Will's shoulder. He released his hold long enough for Will to turn to face him.

"You are being far too rude too early," Will chided playfully. He held out another piece of fruit for Sonny, who went to take it in the same manner as the first but Will pulled it back at the last second, placing it between his lips.

"If I'm being rude, you're teasing," Sonny half-growled.

Will grinned and removed the fruit long enough to say, "Oh no, I totally intend to put out."

Sonny kissed him, biting into the fruit and not really caring too much where the juice was going. Especially when Will's lips moved to his neck and began to half-suck, half-lick it up.

There had been a time, many years ago, when it was just the two of them in that little apartment across the hall. When sex was new to Will and addictive to them both, and they would spend entire days without a stitch between them. Kisses and touches and gropes and strokes. Eyes on every part of the other's body and not a single second of hesitation or doubt or self-consciousness.

That was years ago and this was now, and they were married and raising a child and dealing with well-meaning parents, one of whom was walking towards the front door, already looking for her keys because Arianna was apparently desperate to go to the bathroom. Even though she'd promised her grandma that she didn't need to go before they left.

The key was in the lock and she'd called out to the boys before any of them could stop what they were doing. Arianna, distracted by her run to the bathroom, didn't seem to notice what Adrienne wished she hadn't. Will and Sonny stayed pressed up against each other, trying to work out whose rear it would be better to flash until the nearby dish towel could be grabbed to provide some kind of modesty.

A silence hung heavy for a second.

Then Adrienne spoke. "Good night I take it."

"Not bad," Will said, trying not to laugh at his poor husband who was trying to will this whole thing away.

"Good morning too by the looks of it," she said, biting her lip in an attempt not to burst out with laughter.

"Well. It was," Will said, and that was the point when Sonny obviously decided that he would laugh, not cry. "Can you just... turn around? For a minute?"

"Oh. Yes. Right." After Adrienne had done so they raced into their room, slamming the door shut behind them with more than a little drama than they'd intended.

Then they stopped, looked at the other, and dissolved into giggles.

"Oh my god," Sonny said. "My mom... she saw... _way_ too much."

"Just promise me you're not about to say we're never having sex again. Because... just... no."

"Oh god no," Sonny laughed. "Maybe we'll start putting the chain on the door though."

"Deal," Will grinned, kissing him quickly.

"I wonder how—"

"Don't you dare bring our daughter into this," Will warned, "I am not ready to have the discussion over how much she may or may not have seen. And I am certainly not ready for that conversation with her."

Sonny just laughed softly and started pulling clothes out from the drawers.

~~

Will tried really hard not to hold Adrienne's knowing gaze as he handed her the coffee, but he failed and ended up laughing. "Can we not?" he pleaded. "I'm going to try really hard to forget that my mother-in-law walked in on us... you know..."

"This is going to sound weird, but I'm glad I did."

"You're right. That is weird."

"We were worried about you two. Me and Justin."

"So was I," Will admitted. "I was just so..."

"Mad? Angry?"

"And frustrated and scared and everything else."

"Yeah, I know what that's like. But if you can remember that you love each other—"

"I never forgot."

"I know," she said gently, "but it's easy enough to be... distracted I guess?"

"Distracted," Will agreed. "But we're not now."

"No, I saw," Adrienne grinned over the top of her mug. When Will groaned in embarrassment she reached out to him. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'll stop."

"Thank you."

"I know these past few weeks have been—"

"Impossible?"

"I was going to say hard, but sure. Let's go with impossible. But I know you two can get through anything if you work together."

"Not sure how we're going to work through this," Will said quietly, looking over to where Sonny and Arianna were engrossed in yet another new book of hers. "With that recording—"

"If anyone can do it, it's you two. I mean, look at everything you've survived. You coming out—"

"Our families' lack of support," Will quipped.

"Nick and Gabi and Ari's illness... You haven't let any of it stop you."

"I just..." Will started, but then he stopped himself.

"Ask me."

"No, it's not fair."

"Ask me," she repeated.

"I don't understand why anyone's on their side. Why is Jennifer supporting them? Why isn't Abby fighting with us?"

"When we lost Jack," Adrienne said quietly, "I know they struggled. Each of them lost their way for a bit and they lost each other. And a part of Jennifer has never really forgiven herself for that. Her children needed her to be there for them and she wasn't. Not how she should be."

"So what? She's trying to make up for that now?"

"Maybe," Adrienne said.

"Dad had a go at her."

"Really?" Adrienne asked, her eyes lighting up a little.

"Yeah, in the club. It was quite the put down I'm told."

"I need that security footage," she laughed.

"I'll put a copy in your Christmas present," Will grinned. "But... I kinda understand where Olivia is coming from. No, I do. She says that she loves him and she says that she feels like his mom. So... I get it. I don't like it, I wish she'd make a different choice, but at least I get where she's coming from. And in a way I do with JJ too. He loves her—"

"He's known her five minutes," Adrienne said.

"Maybe. But I knew about Sonny early on."

"You two were friends first, and there was all that with you coming out... what?"

"I just... You're defending us. Me and Sonny."

"Well. I may have been... a little bit wrong," she said.

"A little?"

"Don't make me say it," she grinned.

"I'll do you a deal. You never mention... today again, I'll never mention—"

"Deal," Adrienne said quickly, holding out her hand for a shake. "But I want to say this. I know that Arianna was... early on for you two. But I daresay you both knew before then that this was something."

"Something," Will grinned, looking back over at his husband and daughter. "It's just been one thing after another with JJ and Olivia."

"There was for me and Sonny."

"OK, fine. So maybe we can kind of understand where they're coming from."

"Abby has been in our corner from day one. She claims to have started this whole thing between us and she was there in our wedding and at the hospital. If it weren't for her we may not have gotten the money for the surrogacy – long story," he added off Adrienne's look of confusion, "—but more than that... She was so excited and happy for us to be parents again. I don't know why she's letting JJ try to take that away from us."

"Or why Jennifer is too?"

"Or any of them. I just... He is a good dad, Adrienne. No, he's amazing. Ari adores him. She refused to listen to him when he told her she didn't have to call him anything except Sonny. She chose papa, not us. He's her dad and I know that he'd be just as amazing with Alex—"

"Alex?"

"It's the name we've... Well, Olivia chose it but we don't really object."

"I do," Adrienne bristled. "You know Alex is the name of—"

"Sonny's travelling friend who died?" Will cut across. "Yes. We do."

"Well. That too."

"Point is, we all like the name and we're hoping that it'll give us some common ground."

"Common ground?"

"We're in court next week," Will said. "Four weeks before the due date."

"How long will it take?"

"Justin doesn't know. I mean, the quicker we agree the quicker it's over with, but... We don't know what they're going to come in with. And because of the recording—"

"Oh love," Adrienne said, putting a hand on Will's arm. She put the mug down on the unit, knocking something as she did so. "What's with all the keys?"

"Oh. The house," Will said quietly. "It's ours. As of last week."

"I'd say congratulations but..."

"It was supposed to be our family home," Will said, "and until we know what, if any, agreement we're going to have then we're staying in Salem."

"Well I won't pretend that I'm not a little happy at that."

"Happy at what, Grandma?" Arianna asked, all but hanging over the back of the couch in her attempt to join in the conversation.

"That I get to spend time with you and your daddies," Adrienne said without missing a beat, while Sonny pulled Arianna back to a much safer position.

Will watched as Sonny knelt behind Ari, holding her in place and keeping her safe. His arms bracketed her but didn't hold on. He was just there, ready to catch her if she lost her balance and pitched forward, and if she went back he was there.

Sonny was Arianna's father. And, in that moment, Will swore he would make sure he was Alex's too. When Adrienne left he asked if he could stop by later to see Justin and Victor; confused she agreed, saying she'd make sure both men were around.

~~

Once they were alone, Justin looked from Victor to Will. "I assume this is about the custody hearing?"

"I need a favour," Will said, "a huge one."

"Should I be here for this?" Justin asked.

"Probably not," Will admitted, "but if we do this then I want you to know the full story."

"Will—"

"You are one of the most decent men I know. You raised an amazing man and I know he is who he is because of you. I know that he asked you," Will said, turning to Justin, "for the passport because he was desperate. Because he loves us that much that he would spend the rest of his life hiding away so that we could be together."

"My nephew does not approve of my compliance," Victor said, shooting a sideways look at Justin, "but when it comes to my family there are no limits."

"I know, and I'm counting on that," Will said.

"What can I do to help?"

"You can get us a passport. Before next week's hearing."

"I really shouldn't be here for this," Justin said.

"Please," Will said quickly. "I know you love Sonny as much as I do. Probably a tiny bit more because he is to you what Arianna is to me. I know that you would do anything in your power to help him."

"That goes without saying, Will, but—"

"We need a passport for next week. Can you get it?"

"I could," Victor said. "And whom would it be for?"

Will slid a piece of paper across to them both. "I heard the recording," he continued. "You talk about getting a passport, nothing more."

"And you want to—?" Justin started.

"We can play it," Will said. "If we have the passport and if—"

"And if you have a good lawyer stand up in court," Justin sighed.

"I know it's a big ask."

"You're asking me to lie in court."

"I'm asking you to do it for Sonny. I'm asking you to do it for Alex and for Arianna and for my family. I'm asking you to do this because my husband is scared that he's lost his son and I don't know if I can fix that. But I want to try. I need to try."

"Will... this could do more than fix things," Justin said. "If it works then your position is stronger, but if—"

"We won't fail," Victor said, "because we can't. This is important, Justin. That child is a Kiriakis and he belongs with us. You know I don't put much stock in blood, Arianna is family no matter what. But there is Kiriakis blood in that child and I for one want to see him with his true parents. You have my word, Will, that the passport will be here in time."

"Thank you," Will breathed in relief. "Justin?"

"There's no guarantee that this will work," he said, putting his hand on the page in front of him.

"But it's our best shot," Will said. "Please, Justin. I know this is a big ask—"

"No, asking to borrow the car is a big ask. This is huge."

"It's Sonny."

"It's emotional blackmail," Justin sighed.

"I don't care what it is, so long as it works."

"I think Sonny had the same attitude towards the passport in the first place," Justin sighed. "So... god help me for even asking this... but the passport. How good are they?"

"Well you remember the time a few years back when you lost yours just before the big European trip? When I said that Henderson found it—" Victor said.

"Don't finish that sentence," Justin sighed.

"So?" Will asked.

"So... _if_ the passport looks good then... fine. Yes."

~~

Having sworn them to secrecy – and to ensure that there was no one around when any calls were made – Will returned home in time to share dinner with Sonny and Arianna. Then they spent an evening together playing games, first in the living room, then in the bathroom. While Sonny mopped up the after effect of a tidal wave that had drowned out the fledgling town built (rather stupidly) on the edge of the bath, Will tucked her into bed. By the time he'd turned the nightlight on and kissed her forehead she was already dozing off.

It wasn't long before he and Sonny were in bed themselves, curled happily around one another as they always did. Will held Sonny close to him, his lips brushing against Sonny's forehead.

"It's gonna be OK," he whispered.

"Hmm?" Sonny hummed sleepily.

"It's all gonna be OK."

Sonny just hummed again in response, buried himself against Will's chest, and said nothing more.

~~

"Hey." Will pulled Sonny up short just before they walked into the courthouse, and started with a pretence of fixing the perfect tie. "You trust me, right?"

"What? Of course I do. Why would you ask me that?"

"Good, because I need you to trust me."

"Why would I—what have you done?"

"This is where the trust thing comes in."

"Will!" Sonny hissed.

"Do you trust me?"

"Yes, I trust you. Now tell me what is going on."

"When we start your dad is going to make some opening remarks. He's going to ask you about the passport. I need you to say that you knew nothing about it until that meeting."

"Will—"

"I need you to trust me and I need you to say that."

"So you want me to lie?"

"Yes."

"In court?"

"Yes."

"When they have evidence?"

"And again, I ask if you trust me?"

Sonny sighed and took Will's hands in his. "You know I trust you. I trust you with my life and, apparently, my freedom and lack of a criminal record. Fine. I will say I knew nothing about it."

"Thank you."

"Anything else?"

"Yeah. "

"Go on then," Sonny sighed.

"Give me a kiss?" Will grinned when Sonny laughed, and they kissed gently before heading inside, hand in hand. They found Justin with ease, and a glance down the hallway found them Olivia, JJ, Jennifer and their lawyer. "Ready?"

"We are," Justin grinned, his hand tapping the breast of his jacket.

"Good?"

Justin shook his head. "Perfect."

"Good."

"So am I going to be let in on this or...?" Sonny whispered.

"Nothing to let you in on, my love," Will said, draping an arm over Sonny's shoulders. "Just... say what you need to say in there and all will be well."

Sonny shook his head and muttered, almost imperceptibly, "I trust you, I trust you, I trust you", over and over to himself like a mantra. Will just laughed and pressed a kiss to his temple.

"We're up," Justin said.

~~

"I'm going to start by addressing the elephant in the courtroom," Justin opened. "The reason we are here and instead of mediation is because they believe that my clients plan to take the child out of the country when he is born. There is a recording of one side of conversation that Victor Kiriakis had, in his own home, regarding procuring a baby's US passport.

"The first that my clients knew of this was when JJ burst into the mediation room and accused them of this. There was no opportunity for a discussion, no opportunity for my clients to have their say. In the interests of that I would like to ask them," and with that Justin turned to face Will and Sonny, "if they were planning what they are accused of."

Will shook his head, and Sonny – remembering his part – said, "No."

"We are not denying that the conversation took place. We are not denying that Victor Kiriakis was using contacts that he has in the passport office. What we are challenging is the person for whom the passport was intended."

He brought out a passport from his jacket pocket and held it up. "This is that passport. As you are all welcome to see, the child that it is for is one..." He opened it and made a show of reading the name. "Shawn Victor Black. Shawn is the newborn son of Victor's Kiriakis' grandson, Shawn and his wife Belle. They've been travelling and so the child was born in Europe, I'm not entirely sure of the country. However, they want their son to hold a US passport, and they asked for help in getting one. Obviously when you travel permanent addresses can be hard to come by, and international mail isn't foolproof.

"Now I know that they would like the court to think that my clients are so desperate for their son that they would resort to kidnapping. I know it served them a purpose to hold this over their heads. But the simple truth of the matter is this. Victor Kiriakis has a friend in the passport office, and he used this connection to help his grandson secure a passport for his newborn child. Jennifer Devereux overheard half a conversation, recorded accidentally on her daughter's voicemail, and that is being used in an attempt to try to discredit them.

"Because here are the simple facts of the matter. Olivia agreed to be their surrogate, with the full knowledge and consent to giving up the child upon delivery. They are a strong, stable, loving couple with a healthy marriage, already parents to a well-adjusted and bright little girl, who is thriving in spite of some massive upheavals in her life. They have financial security, extended families, and a drive and commitment to being parents that pre-dates them even meeting Olivia.

"In an attempt to accommodate Olivia, they have offered her a place in their son's life, ensuring that not only is contact maintained, but that the child will know exactly who she is and how he came to be in this world. They are still willing to offer this, despite the fact that they have met with nothing but hostility, baseless accusations, and attempts by their cousin to take their child from them—"

"Your Honour," their lawyer interrupted, getting to his feet, "this is grandstanding and—"

"You don't get it, do you?" Will was the one to interrupt this time. "You're so busy going on about them loving that baby that you don't see what's in front of you. Your Honour, my husband is the best person I have ever known. He is a great man, and I'm not just saying that because I love him and I married him. I'm saying it because he loved me before I was even out and he didn't push me or make me feel uncomfortable. He respected my feelings, my pace, and he waited. I'm saying it because when our daughter was sick he didn't even think twice about risking his own health, his own life, for the chance to save her.

"I'm saying it because he invited Arianna's mother to live with us, even though he didn't like her that much, because it was best for us. I'm saying it because when Gabi was sent to prison he went out of his way to make sure that she has remained a part of Arianna's life. He is the one who records video messages with Ari. He is the one who helps her write letters. He has kept my family together and for that alone I adore him.

"I know that he would do anything for us, and they are trying to use that to say that he would take the baby and run. But that would mean taking Arianna away from her family, from everything that she knows and loves.

"He has gone above and beyond to make sure that our family stays together, and suddenly they believe that he would take Arianna away from that? He just wants us to be a family. That is his son and they—"

"OK, that's enough," the judge warned.

Will shut his mouth and glanced down in a show of apology, but Sonny knew his body well enough to know that what Will was feeling wasn't regret, but a sense of pride.

~~

During the break Sonny pulled Will into the restroom before shoving him against the wall and kissing him hard.

"You really want to do the whole gay stereotype thing?" Will laughed.

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"Because they were looking at you," Will whispered, holding Sonny in close. "Because they all thought you did it and so they looked at you when your dad produced the passport and you honestly had no idea. That reaction was real."

"But—"

"It's dealt with."

"No, but Will... god," he breathed before kissing him again. "I just... I screwed up."

"Yeah, you did," Will said. "But you screwed up for all the right reasons."

"No, I could have—"

"But you didn't."

"You lied for me. No, wait, my _dad_ lied for me."

"We love you," Will said simply. "We'd do anything for our family."

"So... what now?"

"Now? Now we fight. We fight for him and we bring him home."

"I love you," Sonny said with a half laugh, pushing forward for another kiss.

"I love you too, but I'm not being the gay bathroom cliché," Will said, taking Sonny's hand and leading him out – almost straight into JJ.

"Are you pleased with yourselves?" JJ asked.

"Um... yeah. Kinda," Will snapped. "Move."

"No. You think you can just pull out some trump card and they're just going to hand Alex over to you?"

"Pretty much," Will said. "I mean look at you. So afraid you're going to lose him that you're making up accusations, lashing out? Doesn't quite fit the responsible parent bit."

"We—"

"Love him, yes, we got that memo. So do we. And thankfully there's more than love involved when it comes to being a parent."

"This isn't over," JJ warned.

"No, it's just beginning," Will said. He leaned in closer to JJ before whispering, "I've barely started."

JJ seemed to pale a little and recoiled, giving them the space to move around him and walk away.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope that this baby (ha!) part goes in some way to addressing some of the many many many (many!) questions and comments that you might have. Also sorry for the notable absences in this part; when writing this section of the plot it just... happened.

"Liv's asleep," JJ said as he dropped onto the couch beside his mother. "Mom, you know what the docs said about her blood pressure, this—"

"We need to talk about what happened," Jennifer cut across.

"You mean the fact that they lied in court?"

"JJ—"

"No, Mom, they did. I know it. You didn't see Will afterwards. He was very careful in what he said, but I could see it. They lied. OK, so maybe they got another passport but they were planning to—"

"OK, honey, you need to stop," Jennifer said. "Take a deep breath. Even if that's true, look at it from their side."

"Mom—"

"Whatever their plans were, as far as that judge is concerned they have a good case."

"I thought you were on our side!"

"I am, I am," she soothed, "but I need to say this. You know I do and more the point – you know I'm right."

"She loves him, Mom. She really loves this baby."

"I know. And she's losing her daughter and I know how hard that is, having your baby be somewhere you're not."

"I was hardly a baby," JJ quipped.

"You think that matters?"

"So what? We just give in?"

"Honey—"

"I know what you're doing, and yes, I know why you're doing it. But I... I can't think like that. She needs me to be on her side, Mom. You didn't see her when she told me that she thought the baby might be ours. She was so scared, and not just because she thought she'd be letting Will and Sonny down. She was scared because she thought I'd hate her, like I'd choose my cousins over her."

"So is this you choosing her over your cousins?" Jennifer asked carefully.

"I love her, Mom. I really love her."

"You can love someone and still not approve of their choices," she said tactfully and they both knew what she meant. "If you honestly believe that what they are doing isn't right then—"

"I know what you want me to say. You want me to say that Alex is Sonny's kid and so she should just hand him over. Then one day we could have a kid of our own and everyone's happy. Right?"

"But that's not what you want to say."

"I just... I can't explain it. He feels like he's mine. I know he's not, I know that there's not a single cell in his body that's come from either of us. But that doesn't stop us loving him."

"I know, honey. But—"

"It honestly feels like we're being asked to give up our son, and—"

"And that's what you're asking Will and Sonny to do."

"This is so screwed up," JJ said, his head lolling to the back of the couch so he could stare at the ceiling. "If I could turn off how I felt then I would, I really would, Mom."

"What about Olivia?"

"She... I don't think she can let go," JJ admitted. "Not after the idea of him being ours stuck, and then Ryan taking Lily—"

"So she takes another child?"

JJ turned his head to look at her. "You really hate what we're doing, don't you?"

"I'm trying to understand it, that's all. I love you and I love Olivia. I think you two could be really good together but this is a lot, JJ. A baby is complicated enough without—"

"Without all of this in? I know. But I keep thinking what would I do if he had turned out to be ours?"

"Then you'd have been the man I raised," Jennifer said, "of course you would have. But Alex isn't yours."

"Arianna wasn't Sonny's. And they'd not been together that long when—"

"If you honestly thought that was comparable then your lawyer would be bringing it up in court," Jennifer interrupted.

"Meanwhile they have my drug habit and Liv's mental state and a judge who believes they weren't planning to kidnap the baby."

"I just want you to be realistic, that's all," Jennifer said. "They're offering you roles in his life. Maybe you should—"

"It's not what Olivia wants, Mom. And I can't just... I can't."

"If I ask you a question, will you answer honestly?"

"This is not going to end well," JJ sighed.

"What do _you_ want?"

"I... want to be with her. I want her to be happy. I want to see where we're going and..." He trailed off. "If I say we shouldn't do this, what does that do? What does that say about how I feel about her?"

"If it's the truth—"

"But it's not. Mom, I'm..."

"Stuck," she finished for him. "You love her and you want to be there for her. You want to support her and that means this baby too. And you're not doing it out of obligation or duty, but love. But you know what that's costing people you care about and you're not quite OK with that."

"I wish there was a middle ground in all of this."

"Well, sometimes there isn't. I remember when you and Abby were little, and you both wanted to play with the same toy. You fought over it and, in the end, it was broken and neither of you got it."

"We're not going to break the baby," JJ deadpanned.

"You don't know that," Jennifer replied.

"What would you do? If you were me?"

"I would... be as stuck as you are," she admitted. "You and Olivia, you need to be _really_ sure that you're doing this for all the right reasons. If she's trying to replace Lily, and if you're just trying to be supportive, then you will not be doing Alex any favours and you'll have destroyed your relationship with Will and Sonny for no good reason.

"Loving him isn't enough, honey. I'm sorry but it's not. You love your children to death but you always have to put them first. That's what being a parent really means. It's why Olivia left Lily with her dad, right? It's why she's not fighting him? It's not that she doesn't love her little girl, of course she does, and it's not that she couldn't provide her with a good life. It's just that Lily would be better off with Ryan. And we can debate about what that means for the rest of the night, but I promise you that love? It's the starting point, honey. Not the be all and end all.

"So you need to work out if you are serious about this for the right reasons. If you want to love and raise that baby because you honestly, _honestly_ believe that you are the right people to do that? Then of course I will back you and support you and help you out in any way that I can."

"And what if we--?" JJ started, but was unable to finish the idea. "What will that do to her? To us?"

"I don't know."

"And it won't make everything better."

"Probably not. But then I think you knew that anyway."

"So we have a choice. Keep Alex and have everyone hate us, or give him up and have everyone still hate us for trying to keep him in the first place."

"JJ—"

"Just because Liv gave up Lily doesn't mean she can't be a good mom. It means that her ex had the bigger support network. If the same thing was happening now then it would be different. She made the right choice for her daughter then and she's making the right choice for her son now."

"She—"

"We love him, Mom. I love him like he's a part of me. Sonny used to go on all the time about how Arianna was his, how she was a part of him even though she's not biologically his. And I understood it but I didn't get it until now. So many kids out there are raised by people who are not their biological parents and they have good lives, great lives.

"We can offer Alex everything Will and Sonny can. It's not about the money or the support, it's about the home. We can make him happy, Mom."

"So could Will and Sonny."

"She's his mom."

"I'm just saying—"

"I can't do this," JJ said, getting to his feet. "I know you mean well, Mom, and I know that you just want things to be sorted. But... We have to do what's right for him. For Alex. And how can you tell me that taking him away from the woman who is putting everything on the line for him is the right thing to do?"

Jennifer said nothing as JJ went back upstairs. The unease she felt before the conversation still sat heavy in her chest, but at least she knew it was shared. 

~~

Olivia sat with the mug of tea warming her hands but doing little else. She'd allowed JJ to make her the drink before he'd left that morning, a token gesture to feel useful and productive somehow. In truth there was nothing that could be done so she'd given him that and sent him off with a smile and a kiss.

The chair she was sitting in rocked gently, and as she closed her eyes she could picture herself sitting in this exact spot in a few weeks' time, only then the baby would be in her arms. The warmth she felt seemed to come from him instead of the mug and Olivia could imagine the weight and feel of him as if he were here already.

A sharp nudge upwards reminded her that he wasn't, and she put the tea down so she could rub her belly.

"Hey, Alex," she soothed, "I know, I know. But a few more weeks and you won't be so cramped."

Alex protested again and for a moment she had to catch her breath.

"OK, baby, you need to let mommy breathe," she said, her fingers rubbing circles on her belly. Alex nudged her again, but this time not quite on target in the lung area. "You are not going to be able to sit still for a moment, are you?" she laughed.

There was a knock on the open door and Olivia looked up to see Abby watching her.

"Everything OK?"

"Yeah, just Alex giving my lungs a hard time. The last month is... always uncomfortable."

"Can I do anything?"

"No. Thank you, I'm fine. Well..." she laughed.

"If you're sure."

"Hey, Abby," Olivia called out as she turned to leave. "Have you... I mean, I was wondering if you'd...?"

"No, I haven't," Abby said. "I actually think they're avoiding me." Abby came into the room and perched on the edge of the footstool. Not that I blame them."

"I'm sorry. I know you guys are... were close."

"It's OK."

"No, it's not."

Abby sighed and shrugged. "Well. There's nothing that I can do about it so..."

"You've given up a lot for me, haven't you?"

"Olivia—"

"Why?"

"What?"

"Why did you do it?" Olivia asked. "You were so close to them, and I know you helped them... well... meet me."

"You're my brother's girlfriend."

"That's it?"

"I don't understand," Abby said.

"There has to be more to it than the fact that I'm with JJ."

"Does it matter?"

"To me, yeah," Olivia said.

"I guess... if you and JJ are going to be Alex's parents then that's... well... my nephew. I guess."

"Lots of guessing," Olivia laughed softly. "I know it's been hard on you."

"Yeah, a little," Abby said, "but to be honest I think I'm the least effected by what's going on. I mean, it's not..."

"Your baby?" Olivia finished.

"Olivia..."

"Do you think I'm—"

"Oh no, no you can't ask me to get involved," Abby said quickly. "Please."

"I'm sorry, I just... Yesterday in court it just brought it home how badly they want this. How much I'm hurting them."

"I know," Abby said gently, "but I also know how much you and JJ want this too."

"I wish I could explain it, I wish I could make you all understand just how much I... I swear I got into this because I thought I could handle it. I thought I could stay detached. But carrying him, even at this stage where I can barely breathe and I'm hardly sleeping? It's like Lily all over again."

"You know he's not... well... a replacement?"

"I know," Olivia said. "But he is... he's mine. He feels like he's mine. I'm his mom and it's... I love him."

"But there has to be more to it than that," Abby blurted out. "Sorry, it's just—"

"No, it's OK," Olivia said. "You're right. There has to be more to it. I mean, I love Lily more than anything else. If it was just about love then..."

"Then what?" Abby urged. "I'm sorry, I don't want to push you but I don't understand why you're doing this."

"He feels like he's a part of me. And that makes a connection between us. I love him and I know that I can give him a good life. I'm not saying Will and Sonny can't, of course not. Arianna is... she's amazing and she's proof that they're amazing parents. But everyone looks at me, the single mom who doesn't even have her little girl, and they think I'm useless. Like I'm unfit or something.

"But they don't see the fact that I gave her up. I gave up my little girl, Abby. It was the right thing for her, the best thing for her."

"I can't imagine how hard that was for you."

"It helps when you know that your kid is happy and in the right place." Olivia looked at Abby for a moment then said, "So why isn't the best place for Alex with Sonny and Will? That's what you're thinking. That's what the whole town is thinking."

"Pretty much," Abby laughed. "Sorry, it's just—"

"Everyone loves them."

"They're really good guys."

"I know. I did spend time with them, remember? I met them at the agency and we talked and I really, really liked them, I liked Arianna. I thought that yeah, this is a family I can help. I can do something good and worthwhile and... and... And no wonder I failed the psych test," she laughed softly. "I wanted to do this for them. I wanted him to be theirs and as soon as I knew that he was I... it hurt, Abby. I love him and he feels like mine and we can give him a good life."

"I don't doubt that. I know my brother, Olivia, he's... He'll make a really good dad."

"If I didn't know that, if I wasn't sure of that? I wouldn't—"

"I know, I know," Abby said. "I didn't mean... Sorry."

"I know. It's something that's been going around my head ever since JJ and I started this... this whole mess. When I thought that Alex could be mine I didn't know how JJ would react, if I'd end up in this alone. But he stood by me, Abby. I was screwing up in the biggest possible way possible and he didn't judge me, didn't make me feel like anything other than someone who... who was loved and who wasn't just a huge screw up.

"And I know he understands what that's like. People look at us and all they see are our pasts. Like we're not going enough because we've screwed up before."

"I don't think that, I've never thought that."

"Which puts you into a minority," Olivia said. "I see the way people look at me, I hear what they say about me when they think I can't hear them. I'm not saying that I'm perfect, but who is? Who hasn't screwed up at some point?

"I thought about surrogacy for a long time and I went along to see if it was possible. And when they told me that it was, that I could be a mom for someone? I trusted them, Abby. You do, don't you? You go and see a professional and you trust that they're doing their job properly. And they weren't and I'm being punished for that.

"It's not fair, Abby. I didn't ask for this. I didn't ask to feel like this and I didn't want to hurt some of the best people that I have ever met."

"So what now?" Abby asked. "I mean, what happens if they get custody? What happens if you get custody?"

"I still want them to be a part of his life," Olivia said, her hand soothing Alex to sleep. "Sonny's his dad, and I can't... I won't take that away from him."

"They said the same about you. Why can't--?"

"Why not hand him over and see him?" Olivia finished. "He's a part of me, Abby. He is... he's right here. I feel his every move, I feel... He gets the hiccups and I feel that," she smiled. "It would be like me handing over my heart to someone else."

"Gabi said that's what being a parent is about," Abby said. "Arianna's mom. When Nick dropped his little bombshell about the explosion she could have fought it. She could have put up a fight and maybe she could have won. But she knew that it was a long shot and in the process she would hurt a lot of people. She made the decision to do the right thing, even though it meant losing her daughter."

"You don't believe that they were getting a passport for Alex, do you?"

Abby shrugged. "What Will said in court makes sense. If they did run then it would mean taking Ari away from Gabi. But..." she sighed. "But it makes sense. They would do anything for their family."

"That. That's why I can't hand him over. What if they get custody and they leave? What if I never see Alex again?"

"They're good people, Olivia. If you worked it out, came to an agreement, then—"

"I've hurt them, Abby. We've hurt them. I'm pretty sure neither of them will want to speak to JJ again, and Lucas and Jennifer's relationship is almost non-existent right now. The DiMeras and Kiriakis families are drawing up battle lines and I'm pretty certain that if JJ and I do get custody then living in Salem is going to become... well, impossible.

"I know it'd be the easy thing to just hand him over. I know that. I know that it make things so much easier for everyone."

"So why not do it?" Abby asked. "I just... if it would be easier."

"Because that's not the right thing to do. Abby, think about it. I have everyone telling me what to do with my life. That I'm wrong to love him the way that I do. That I should, because it's what they want, do things the way that they should be done, the way they have always been done.

"Tell me. How is that different to people who told Will and Sonny that they shouldn't love each other the way they do? That they should settle down with a nice girl because that's how it's always been done?"

"Not quite the same," Abby said.

"No, but the principle is. People are so busy telling us what to do with their lives that they don't stop to think about why we want to do things the way we want to it. Why we feel the way we do. It's all about them, what they think, what they feel."

"I get it," Abby said. "I... get it."

"I don't know how I'd survive losing him."

"Can I... Just, I need to ask you this," Abby said. "Please. Don't take him away from Will and Sonny? Talk to them, work something out. I know you're scared of losing him, of what they might do, but you know they're good guys. Great guys. They will always do right by their kids and if you're a part of his life, if you're so determined to do right by Alex? Then they'll always do right by you."

~~

When the screen came into focus, Olivia made sure that she had a big smile on her face. "Hey, beautiful!" she said, waving as she did.

"Hey Momma," Lily replied with her own little wave.

"How's Columbus?"

"Cold," Lily pouted. "Keeps raining."

"I'm sure it'll stop at some point," Olivia laughed. "You two settled in OK?"

Lily nodded. "Daddy says I can paint my room any colour I want."

"Within reason!" Olivia heard Ryan call from off-screen.

"Any colour," Lily repeated, almost oblivious to her father. "Have you had the baby yet?"

"Not yet, sweetie," Olivia said, moving a little so Lily could see her bump. "Few more weeks to go."

"And then can you come live here?"

"What?"

"Lily, we talked about this." Ryan's voice seemed closer now. "Momma lives with JJ now."

"But I want her to live near us."

"Baby—"

"It's OK," Olivia said. "Sweetie, I will come see you all the time."

"But when you give Sonny the baby why can't you move here?"

"Lily..." Olivia breathed. "Honey, it doesn't work like that."

"We live here now, and Mommy lives in Salem," Ryan said. "But we can talk like this every day and you can go see her and she can come here."

"It's not the same," Lily said.

"I know, baby," Olivia said. "I miss you so much and I love you even more. But your daddy is right, we can talk every day and I will come and see you as often as I can."

"I'm just sad I won't see the baby," Lily said.

"What?"

"You said I could see the baby when he was born. Before he went to live with his daddies."

"I..." Olivia started, then faltered.

Ryan came into view on screen, scooping Lily up into his lap. "Hey, how about you tell your momma about your new friend?" he said quickly.

"New friend?"

"He's called Christopher and he's the same age as me and he lives with his momma," Lily said in one breath. "He likes bikes same as me and he likes digging in the garden same as me."

"Sounds great."

"He's a little cute," she then declared.

"A _little_ cute?" Olivia laughed.

"He's got dark eyes and dark hair and he's kind," Lily said. "He helped me with my boxes."

"We met them when we moved in," Ryan explained. "Chris helped—"

" _Christopher_ ," Lily corrected.

"Sorry. _Christopher_ helped with some of the smaller bags and boxes."

"So long as our daughter isn't taking advantage of his good nature," Olivia laughed.

"Oh she is totally taking advantage," Ryan grinned, "but that's our girl."

"He's got a nice smile too," Lily said. "He 'minds me of Sonny."

Olivia's face faltered for a moment and she looked down at her belly.

"Momma?"

"Sorry, honey."

"Is the baby kicking?"

"Not right now," she said. "But he does it a lot. Mostly when I'm trying to sleep."

"Does it hurt?"

"A little," Olivia said. "But it's like when you bang your arm on something. It only hurts a little bit and for a little while."

"Christopher says that it hurts when mommies give birth."

"Does he now? Is he an expert?"

"His auntie had a baby," Lily explained. "She lives with his other auntie a few streets over."

"Right," Olivia said, a smile creeping across her face. "I love how this sort of thing doesn't bother her," she said then to Ryan. "When we were her age—"

"The world was a different place. But to Lily? Love is love," Ryan said, kissing the top of her head. "And when you love someone?"

"You do everything for them!" Lily almost shouted. "I do all my jobs because we love each other."

"Yes you do," Ryan said.

"And I love you, Lily," Olivia said. "You know that, right?"

"Love you like the _whoooooooooooooooole_ world," she said.

"Love you to heaven."

"Love you all to _aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaall_ the stars," Lily giggled.

"Love you forever," Olivia finished.

"Come see me soon, please Momma?"

"I promise. Real soon."

"Will Sonny let me see the baby?" Lily asked. "I'd like to see him. Can you ask?"

"I... We'll see," Olivia said.

There was a sound of a bell ringing and Lily looked off-screen. "Christopher!" she yelled with excitement and slid off her father's knee.

"Sorry, they have a play-date," Ryan said. "I should—"

"Yeah, it's fine. Go. We'll talk soon."

"Call you tomorrow."

"Yeah," she smiled weakly.

"Hey," Ryan said softly in a way that let her know what was coming. "We love you."

"I love you guys too."

"And the woman I love? She's the best woman I know. It broke my heart that we couldn't make it work but I still love her and I will until my last day."

"I'm not the best—"

"Yes you are, Olivia. You are everything that you should be. And maybe you got a little lost, but I know she's there."

"Daddy!" Lily called out.

"One second, baby," he said to her. "I'm going to say this and then, if you want, I will never say another word on the matter. But something tells me that if you changed your mind – or rather, changed it back? Then that would be just fine."

"But JJ—"

"Says he loves you. And if he does, if he really does love you? Then it'll still be fine."

"I don't—"

"Yes you do," Ryan said. "I should—"

"Yeah. Go."

"If you need someone to talk to—?"

"Thanks, Ryan."

"Love you."

"Love you too," she said before ending the video call. 

~~ 

Jennifer knocked on the door before pushing it open. "Just wanted to see if you needed anything before I left."

"No, I'm good, thanks," Olivia said, rolling over as best she could so she was facing her.

"Abby's got some errands to run so you'll have the house to yourself for a bit, get some of that rest you've been ordered to take."

"I'll try," she smiled weakly.

"What time are you due in court tomorrow? I'll see if I can take some time—"

"It's fine, don't worry about it," Olivia said. "Actually, I need to call the lawyer and see—" As she sat up slightly to reach for her phone she stopped, taking a sharp breath.

"You OK?" Jennifer asked, moving towards the bed.

"Yeah, just..."

"Contractions? Not uncommon at this stage I'm afraid."

"No, it's... it's more than that," Olivia said, forcing her breath out deep and steady. "It's not going away."

"How long have you been feeling like this?"

"An hour or so? That's why I came to lie down. I—" She cut off when another round of pain crushed through her and she was only just aware of Jennifer reaching for the phone. "What--?"

"We need to get you to hospital."

"No, it's too early, it's—"

"It's a few weeks, Olivia, but you know what they said about your blood pressure. I'm sorry, but we can't take any chances."

"But it was all supposed to be sorted out by now," Olivia said, mostly to herself, as Jennifer made arrangements around her.

~~

"Mom!"

Jennifer looked up to see JJ rushing towards her, his face sick with worry. "She's OK, they're OK," she told him. "But... she's gone into labour."

"She's not full term yet."

"It's a few weeks early, happens all the time and the babies are just fine," Jennifer reassured him.

"Where is she? I should be in there—"

"And you can go in, just as soon as you calm down," Jennifer said. "Olivia needs you to be calm and focused when you're in there with her. Believe me, labour is stressful enough without all of this."

"They are gonna be OK though, right?"

"They'll be fine," Jennifer reassured him. "Just take a deep breath and try to enjoy it. This is an exciting time for you both."

JJ looked at his mother, then he dropped his gaze. "You think I should call them."

"It's not my place to decide that, it's Olivia's. She has a right to privacy. If she wants them to know—"

"Has she said anything?"

"She just kept asking for you."

"Should we tell them?"

"Sonny's the father. What do you think?"

"But she's not said anything?"

"Just... Talk to her, OK?"

JJ nodded, took a deep breath, then headed in the direction she pointed in. He was ushered into Olivia's room by a nurse and almost shoved right up to the bedside. 

"I'm sorry," Olivia said, grabbing his hand.

"You have nothing to be sorry about," he told her, kissing the top of her head. "Nothing."

"Promise me that you love me, that you'll stand by me? I can't—"

"Hey," he said gently, crouching so that he was in front of her, "you know I love you. I know this is not the most... this is not the easiest of situations to be in, but I wouldn't be here if I didn't love you. I adore you, Liv, you're everything to me. I can't imagine my life without you."

"But we are messed up."

"No more than some people," he laughed softly.

"Alex—"

"Is loved and wanted and I swear to you that I will be there for you both. I love him like he's mine, Liv. I won't give up on either of you." He moved a hand to her belly. "I can't wait to meet him," he smiled. "No doubt he'll be beautiful like..." He trailed off when he realised how inaccurate the statement on his lips was. "He'll be beautiful."

"You really do love him?" Olivia asked.

"With everything that's in me," JJ affirmed.

"I—" she started, but was cut off by a contraction.

~~

At 1951 a small but healthy baby boy came yelling into the world. He was checked and found to have ten fingers and ten toes, everything else where it should be, and after a quick check over he was put into the arms of Olivia for a quick hold before he was taken off for more checks and observations.

"He's perfect," she whispered to JJ. "He's—"

"He's beautiful," JJ finished.

Olivia just nodded, but that hadn't been what she was going to say. Looking down at the face of the baby in her arms she couldn't help but see Sonny.

"Do you want me to call them?" JJ offered.

"Not yet," she whispered, still looking at the child in her arms. "I just... not yet."

"Liv—"

"I know they need to know and I'm not planning on keeping it from them. But what can they do? Race down here? See him wired up to god knows what? And I'm not quite in the mood for a lecture on how we kept my high blood pressure worries from them."

"If you're sure?"

"Please. Just... one night with him. That's all I want. One night."

"OK," JJ said. "Can I...?"

Olivia helped move the baby into JJ's arms, and then she settled back to watch him, studying his every move and reaction.

"Hey there," JJ whispered. "It's so nice to finally meet you. Although I could have waited a little longer, there's no need to be in such a rush in future, OK? Oh my god... You're just... I want you to know that there is nothing that I won't do for you, or your mom. I will do anything to keep us together, OK?" He looked up at Olivia and smiled. "I will do anything to keep my family together."

When Olivia smiled back she just hoped that he didn't notice the lack of warmth in it, or that if he did he put it down to the result of labour. 

~~

Unable to sleep Olivia eased herself out of bed and headed down the hallway to the nursery. She stood by the glass and watched the baby boy sleeping, swaddled tightly in an obligatory blue blanket, the tiny wisp of dark hair on his head already fluffed up. There was already signs, hints to his paternity, in the curve of his jaw and the arch of his brow.

Aside from being small and slightly jaundiced, Alex had been declared in robust health. Good strong boy.

Again, hints of his paternity.

"Everything OK?" a passing nurse asked.

"Yeah, just... watching."

"Happens a lot," the nurse said. "Do you want to go in and sit with him?"

"No, it's fine. I... I just wondered if..."

"Go on," the nurse said.

"Who is it up to who gets in to see him?"

"You," the nurse said. "You're his mom, it's totally up to you."

"Even if it's... the dad I want to keep out?"

"Even if," the nurse said. "No one comes in unless you say it's OK."

"I'm not going to be very popular," Olivia said, stealing one last look at Alex.

"Have you met Constance?" the nurse laughed softly. "She won't care one bit if she upsets anyone."

"I just... I need some time, that's all. To get my head sorted."

"That's fine. And I can--?"

"Is everything OK?" she asked, looking at Olivia in that way that betrayed her thinking.

"I'm fine," Olivia sighed. "Promise. I know the signs too. I'm not acting out because... I'm fine," she repeated. "Really. If you knew half of what's gone on then you'd understand. Or maybe you'd be more worried. But I promise you, this is just... space. I need space. We need space," she corrected, looking at Alex.

"It's your choice."

"Yeah," Olivia whispered to herself.

~~

"...and I'll leave you in the capable hands of Constance," the nurse said. "Try to get some rest."

"Hi," Olivia said nervously when she became aware Constance was staring straight at her.

"What can I do for you," Constance asked, her tone and manner clipped.

"I was told that I can controlee who sees Alex."

"Yes."

"No matter who they are?"

Constance sighed. "It's your right as his mom."

"But clearly you don't agree with it."

"My opinions and thoughts don't matter. If that's what the rule is then that's what I have to do."

"I'm just trying to do right by everyone—"

"I just need the names," Constance said.

Olivia paused for a moment, her eyes flitting to the name badge. "You're her."

"What?"

"When Arianna was sick. They talked about you."

"I don't know what you mean."

"You know Will and Sonny."

"Honey, this is Salem. Everyone knows the resident gay couple and that's before you consider their families. And the fact that their daughter fought and beat cancer yeah, means I know them. But it won't make me anything less than professional and if they did tell you about me then they would have told you that."

"Yeah, they—"

"So just tell me who you do and don't want to see Alex and then you should be getting back to bed."

"Another thing," Olivia said. "I want him in with me."

"When he's not undergoing treatment, I don't see that being a problem. I'll speak to your doctor."

"Thank you. Oh, and the birth certificate--?"

"One thing at a time," Constance said. "Names."

~~

If nothing else, the look on Constance's face when Olivia had made her wishes clear had helped sooth her fears a little. Tomorrow was going to be hard, but if she could just get through it then... maybe, just maybe things would work out.

~~

"You should get some sleep," Jennifer said softly, sticking her head around the door.

"Why? Because I won't get any when they get home?" JJ asked, his hand still resting on the edge of the crib.

"That's part of it," she smiled. "But mostly Olivia's going to need you to be well rested. She's going to need a lot of support."

"I can't believe that he's here," JJ said. "I just... I know he was a little early, but that's not what I'm talking about."

"I get it," Jennifer said, coming into the room and sitting on the bed. "Having a baby... it's almost an abstract idea to begin with, even though pregnancy is very much a physical thing. Now there's a baby, independent of his mom, with his own needs and personality."

"What?"

"Oh yeah," she laughed. "You were so stubborn sometimes as a baby. Just like me, your dad said. If it wasn't _exactly_ to your liking then we knew about it!"

"I hope Alex isn't like that," JJ laughed.

"If he is then I'm calling it karma."

"Not that we have a guide book here."

"Babies tend not to come with them—"

"No, I mean... Alex he's... he's not us. We won't see ourselves in him and we won't be able to attribute anything to us."

"Honey—"

"I guess him being here is just making this real. He's... he's Sonny, mom. I saw him, I know Liv did."

"Does Sonny know?"

"I don't know," JJ said, his face falling. "I was so busy with Liv after Alex was born that... Do you think the hospital called them?"

"Not unless Olivia told them too," Jennifer said.

JJ reached for his cell until he saw the look on his mother's face. "What?"

"Have you seen the time?"

JJ looked at the clock and let go of his phone. "When did it get so late? Early I mean?"

"Which is why you should be in bed. Get some sleep, we'll deal with it in the morning."

"Night, Mom."

"Night, love," she said, getting up and leaving the room.

JJ picked up his phone and typed out a quick text. Then he set the phone down and resumed his vigil by the empty crib, his mind racing.

~~

Olivia's phone buzzed with the text and she stared at the notification. 

**From: JJ  
Sleep well. See you tomorrow. Love you. Xx**

She didn't reply, just locked the screen and curled up as best she could on the bed. Tomorrow was going to come far too quickly for her liking.


	7. Chapter 7

Will purposefully ignored Sonny's looks and touches and comments on the way back from the court. It wasn't that he didn't want to have the conversation, it was just that he didn't want to have it now.

Justin took them back to the mansion, where Arianna immediately launched into a dramatic retelling (complete with actions) of her latest riding lesson. While Sonny laughed and tried to coax her down from the back of the couch, Adrienne pulled Will to one side.

"Justin told me what happened today," she said. "He... _told_ me."

"Right," Will said, knowing that she knew.

"Risky."

"Worth it," Will said, being distracted by Ari and Sonny's laughter.

"I'm sure Sonny thought the same thing. Know what I think?"

Will shook his head, bracing himself for what was about to happen.

"I think... I think that my son has someone who loves him and will protect him as much as I would. And you know how much that is!" she laughed. "I think that in spite of all the doubters that... my _son_ is a wonderful man."

"Thank you," Will whispered.

"Just... don't be putting those newfound lying skills into practice any time soon, OK?"

"What? Oh no. No... I mean, I'd lie _for_ him in a heartbeat. But _to_ him? I couldn't do that." His gaze moved over to where Sonny had wrestled Arianna onto the couch and they were engaged in a tickle war. "Ever."

"I know," Adrienne breathed.

When Will looked over to her he smiled, and accepted the hug she offered.

"Papa?" Arianna said.

"Yes, baby?"

"Why is Daddy hugging Grandma Adrienne?"

Sonny gave a short laugh and pulled her in closer. "I don't know."

"Make it stop."

"Why?" Sonny asked as Will and Adrienne pulled apart in confusion.

"It's weird," she declared, much to their amusement.

~~~

The afternoon stole away from them and after Arianna declared she was hungry they stayed for dinner. Then there were more games and laughter and soon their little girl was face down on the couch, out for the count.

"Guess we should get her home," Sonny said, sweeping Arianna's hair away from where it had fallen.

"Or you could stay?" Adrienne offered. "Save trying to get her in and out of the car without waking?"

"If you're sure and it's no trouble," Will said, not missing the way that Sonny seemed to tense a little beside him. "I mean—"

"Why would it be any trouble to have our family stay," Adrienne asked. "I'll get the rooms set up." She got up and left them, much to Justin's amusement.

"You know she means she's going to get Henderson to do it?" Justin asked.

"I had hoped," Sonny laughed.

"If you wanted to make a run for it—"

Sonny looked over to Will and smiled warmly. "No, it's fine. Been a long day and I don't really fancy wrangling with this one if I can get away with it."

"I am right here, you know," Will protested. "I am very capable of carrying our daughter."

"And yet I'm always the one who does it?"

"It's not my fault if she wakes up—"

"Actually, that is totally your fault."

"I can't believe you're the favourite parent," Will quipped.

"Deal with it," Sonny replied, sticking his tongue out playfully.

"This is the man you raised," Will said to Justin, looking for some support.

"And I couldn't be more proud," Justin laughed.

"Dad, I just... Thanks. For everything." Sonny looked from his father to his husband to their daughter. "These two mean everything to me and you're helping me keep them and—"

"Don't," Justin said quickly. "I don't think I have anything to do with you keeping them—" At that Will shook his head and reached over to grab Sonny's hand. "—and as you well know, when it comes to your children? There are no limits to what we'll do."

"Even when it goes against everything in you?"

"Yeah, so your stunt with the passport wasn't exactly your finest moment," Justin said, "but the love you have for your children? It can make you do things that you never even thought you'd consider."

"Tell me about it," Sonny said quietly, looking down at the sleeping girl beside him.

~~~

Arianna was settled, they were set up in Sonny's old room and as soon as the door was shut behind him Sonny looked at Will and asked one simple question: "Can you keep quiet?"

"I... why?" he asked.

"You were... _amazing_ today, Will. Just... What you said—"

"I meant it," Will said, moving towards Sonny. "Every. Single. Word."

"I know," Sonny grinned, taking Will by the waist and turning him so he was pressed up against the wall. "So... about being quiet?"

His fingers splayed out, the pads pressing firmly into Will's skin through the fabric of the shirt. What little distance between their bodies was closed as Sonny pressed up against him but without a kiss. He held Will's gaze in a mixture of promise and teasing.

"I can... try," Will whispered, his mouth suddenly dry.

"Do," Sonny said, the word almost command-like.

And then there was the kiss. Sonny's mouth was closed and forceful at first, pressing Will's head back against the wall and holding him in place. When his mouth opened, Will followed suit, allowing Sonny's tongue to lick its way in, confirming Will's suspicion of where this was going.

Sonny's hands pushed between their bodies as he didn't seem to want to break contact even for something as necessary as undoing Will's pants; the added pressure just served to arouse Will even more. By the time Sonny had undone the clasp and was shoving them down, along with his underwear, he was already half hard.

"God, Son—"

"Quiet, remember?" Sonny said with a grin before dropping to his knees.

Will was torn between letting his eyes drift shut and just _feeling_ , and watching... well... the 'master at work'. No matter how many times Sonny would point out Will's lack of comparative experience, Will would still declare that his husband gave the best blow jobs.

And this was nothing different.

Usually it would be drawn out – a series of licks and kisses and gentle sucks on the tip – but whether it was because of their location or Sonny's intense desire there was little of that tonight. Will bit back a yelp when, after a few strokes to bring him to full hardness, Sonny sank almost fully over his erection and sucked hard. Sonny's hum was meant to be one of warning, but to Will it just made the situation worse. When he looked down at Sonny he saw those dark eyes, blown darker with lust, looking up at him with a familiar expression.

_Are you trying to get us caught?_

Will reached down, dragging his fingernails through Sonny's hair before his attention returned to his task. Will realised that Sonny's aim wasn't to drag this out, to tease and frustrate, but to make him come hard and make him come soon. And Sonny knew exactly how to do that.

One of his hands held Will's hip firmly while the other started off at the base of his shaft before moving to his balls. Will had to bite his lip in order to stop himself from groaning as Sonny's expert fingers rolled and teased and rubbed in a rhythm with his mouth.

"Son—" he managed to get out in warning.

Maybe he hadn't heard, maybe he didn't care. Either way Sonny's hand pushed back between Will's legs, rubbing one ass cheek before sliding a finger between them. The pressure on his hole was enough and Will was coming, hard and hot, his body bucking against the wall.

"God..." he breathed as he started to come down. He looked at Sonny who grinned up at him. Then, in one fluid motion, he dropped to his own knees, pushing Sonny onto the floor. The kiss was deep and dirty while Will's hand made short, practiced work of Sonny's own pants. It took just a few strokes before Sonny was coming himself.

For a moment they lay, side by side on the floor, within reach of the bed but not caring or wanting to move. Then Sonny shifted a little and pulled a face.

"And what do you suggest I do with my underwear so that my parents don't find out what happened?" he chided in a mocking tone.

Will laughed into the curve of Sonny's neck. "I hate to break it to you, baby, but I think they probably know you're not a virgin anymore."

"You don't know that," Sonny pointed out. "It's not like they have proof."

"I..." Will started, then stopped as he realised that he was technically correct. "Well, there was last week—"

"Not actual proof. I'm the son of a lawyer, Will, I know how to spin reasonable doubt."

"You and me both," Will said, kissing the underside of Sonny's jaw.

"That you do," Sonny agreed.

"I approve of your way of thanking me by the way," he laughed.

"I had to improvise," Sonny replied. "Home would have had... more supplies."

Will laughed softly before Sonny pulled himself up to a sitting position before getting to his feet, shucking his pants as he did so. He held out a hand to Will and pulled him up, fitting their bodies flush against each other.

"Tell me something," Will said with an air of complete seriousness. "Is this some teenage fantasy for you? Having a boy sleep over in your room?"

"Oh totally," Sonny grinned, pushing Will back towards the bed. "Only reason I blew you."

"See, I knew there had to be some kind of personal angle in this," Will laughed as they fell back onto the soft mattress.

"It's all about what I want," Sonny said as he crawled over Will's body.

"And what is that exactly?"

"You. My family. I want us all to be happy. Everything else is negotiable."

~~~

When Will had suggested they ask Henderson to find something for Sonny to sleep in, he'd responded that he'd rather ask his own mother.

"Since when were you a prude?" Will asked, putting his hands on his now-naked hips.

"I'm not," Sonny grinned, reaching out and pulling Will towards him. "I just like to keep our private life, well, private. And it's not as if I _need_ something to sleep in."

"Been a long time since we've... gone without," Will laughed, dipping his head to kiss Sonny gently.

"Ari isn't going to come in tonight. Not while we're here."

"Now that you've said that the Universe has heard you and that's exactly what is going to happen."

"This is your fault," Sonny said, getting off the bed and reaching for his discarded pants. "If you'd not ruined them—"

"Yes, because I was the one who pounced on you as soon as we were in the room," Will grinned. "This is nice," he then added.

"What?" Sonny asked as he did up the button and fly.

"This. Us. Being... well, us."

"We weren't before?"

"No. Well, yes, but... We keep forgetting."

"Things have been a bit hectic recently," Sonny pointed out.

"And we stopped having fun as a result."

"And to you fun is—"

"Lots of sex and sleeping naked."

"Yes, because those nights when Ari came into our room were _such_ fun," Will quipped. "I am not ready to answer those questions. And if you go and find something to sleep in then maybe we can avoid them a little bit longer."

"Good thing I love you," Sonny muttered, almost under his breath.

"Love you too!" Will called out quietly.

Sonny laughed to himself as he started down the hallway, pausing for a moment outside the room where Ari was currently sleeping. Hearing nothing to make him stay he carried on, but as he'd suspected there was no one still awake.

At the end of the hallway was a storage room, and Sonny found the bags that he'd left when he'd first moved out and for a number of reasons he'd never returned to claim. In one there were several pairs of shorts, and as he pulled one out something came with it. As he picked it up he realised what it was, and took it with him back to his room.

"What?" Will asked when he saw the look on Sonny's face.

"I found this," he said, holding out the photo he'd brought back.

"Is this him?" Will asked.

"Yeah."

"Good looking guy."

"And he knew it," Sonny laughed. "I still can't believe Grant knew before I did."

"Knew what?"

"That I'd end up being a husband, a father."

" _You know we cannot see yourself, so well as by reflection_ ," Will quoted. "Julius Caesar. We don't see ourselves except in what is reflected back to us. You knew who I was before I did. Grant knew who you were."

"When did you get so smart?"

"I'm not—"

"Don't do that," Sonny said. "Don't put yourself down like that."

"No, I'm just—"

"You have kept me together in all of this, do you know that? I was... so nervous and worried about going into this, about what could go wrong. I didn't exactly imagine all of this, and I know I made it worse, but you..." He walked over to Will and slid his hands around his waist. "You've grounded me."

"Is that a good thing?"

"It's the best thing," Sonny said. "I know that you have this idea in your head that I saved you or that I've made your life better—"

"You have—"

"But you did the same for me."

"How?" Will asked.

"Look at my life, Will. I know you think that seeing and doing all those things is somehow better, but I have never, _ever_ felt so happy, so... content or fulfilled. A view, even if it is from the top of a mountain, doesn't even come close to Ari's smile or the way your hand," he said, moving Will's hand to his chest, "feels on me. The rush of bungee jumping off a bridge is _nothing_ compared to how I felt when you first said you loved me, when we got engaged, married... all of it.

"You did that. You. You were always going to be the guy who fell in love and got married and raised a family. You were always going to do that because it's the one thing you felt you didn't have. I never thought about that, not until I met you.

"That's you, Will. That's all you."

"Son—"

"Yes, things aren't exactly going as we'd hoped, but so long as I have you, so long as we have Ari? Then I can face anything."

"Me too," Will whispered, kissing Sonny gently. "So. Let's see you in these shorts."

"I want you to remember that these are... well, old."

"Old?"

"I left them here years ago," Sonny said.

"Put 'em on, Kiriakis," Will laughed. "And ten bucks says you're glad you're wearing them tonight."

~~~

"Daddy!"

The cry was plaintive but heartfelt, and Will was roused from his sleep in an instant. By the time he'd reached the door Sonny was a step behind him and so the pair of them found a very distressed Arianna in the hallway, clutching at a blanket for comfort.

"Daddy!" she cried when she saw them, holding out her arms for him to lift her. "I had a bad dream and I didn't know where you were."

"Right here, baby, we're right here," Will soothed, clutching her to him.

"We're right here," Sonny echoed, moving so he was in Ari's line of sight. He reached out to brush her hair from where the sweat had stuck it to her forehead. "We'll always be here."

"But you weren't," she all but sobbed. "I dreamed that you gave me away like Mom did and that you didn't—"

"Hey, hey, no," Sonny said as Will gripped her tighter. "Your mom did not give you away, OK? You know that. You know how much she loves you. But she did a bad thing and she has to stay in prison for a while. She knows how much you daddy and I love you and she knew that we would look after you."

"But in my dream—"

"It was just a dream, sweet pea," Sonny soothed. When Ari struggled against Will he realised that she wanted to change parents, and he handed her over to Sonny. "It was just a dream. Your mom loves you just as much as your dad and I do."

"Love you too," Ari mumbled into Sonny's shoulder, already much calmer.

With a look and a nod they agreed, and started back towards their room. Ari was placed in the middle of the bed and her fathers lay either side of her. She curled in towards Sonny, but held onto Will's hand, as if to make sure that he stayed too.

"I can't believe that this is my life sometimes," Sonny whispered after she'd fallen asleep. "When I was growing up I never imagined that I would want this as much as I do." He looked up at Will and smiled. "My whole world."

"My forever," Will whispered in response. "Son, her dream—"

"I know, I know."

"We keep thinking we're protecting her but she knows, same way I always knew."

"Do you want to talk to her? Explain everything?"

"We're back in court day after tomorrow," Will said. "After that. We'll know more then."

"If you're sure?"

"Only two things I'm sure of are in this bed," Will said, looking down at Arianna. "We have to do right by her."

"We always do," Sonny said. "Always."

"Remind me to see if we can organise another visit with Gabi. I know we're not due for a few weeks—"

"Oh of course, of course. Whatever it takes."

Will looked up at Sonny. "They never tell you about that aspect of love, do they? How you will do... anything. And not just for your kids. I will do... anything, Sonny. Anything you need me to do, I'll do it."

"Me too," Sonny whispered.

"We're gonna be OK," Will said to Ari. "I promise. Especially as soon as your papa pays me the ten bucks he owes me."

Between them Ari stirred a little when Sonny laughed, rolling onto her back but still within reach of them both. They each kissed her, cheek and forehead, and then settled down to sleep themselves.

~~~

"They're going to call back to confirm, but it shouldn't be a problem," Will said as he hung up the phone. "I may have played up Ari's distress at missing her mom, but if it serves a purpose...!"

"My husband, the evil genius," Sonny grinned. "Mom's right. Please only use your newfound lying powers for good."

"I promise," Will said, "although whether or not I'm lying...!"

"Good thing I trust you then."

"Which is a good thing when I say what I'm about to say," Will said hesitantly. "Tomorrow, when we're in court—"

"Do I need to sit down?"

"...Maybe?"

"Will—"

"Look, we have a couple of weeks until Alex's due date and I know we all want this sorted out before then. I really think that we have a good chance of settling this if we go back to our original offer."

"Your original offer," Sonny corrected. "The one where they get to be a part of his life?"

"We do anything for our kids, remember? And surely having everything sorted out before he's born is a good thing? Having those in his life not angry and resentful?"

"Having two people in his life who might end up snatching him and being on the first plane out of Salem?"

"Oh, you mean us?" Will challenged. "I still think that if we're the reasonable couple in all of this that they'll... unravel themselves."

"And if they don't?"

"Then Alex is loved and supported by half of Salem."

"And yet not actually living in Salem," Sonny reminded. "We haven't talked about the house for a while. Seems weird with it all just... sitting there."

"Plenty of parents split custody living in different locations. Some even manage it across state lines. We're just down the road."

"Don't call them that."

"What?"

"Parents. Don't call them that."

"Sonny—"

"I know, I know. I know exactly what the law says she is but... don't. Please."

"Burying your head in the sand isn't going to change it," Will said firmly. "Because until such time as she signs her rights over, she is his mom. And I can't have you getting angry over that again."

"...I know," Sonny admitted as the phone started to ring. "That was quick." He grabbed it and pressed the answer button. "Hello?... Yes, this is Sonny Kiriakis," he answered, his face creasing in confusion.

"Who is it?" Will mouthed.

"Hospital," Sonny mouthed back. "What? No, my first name is Jackson, Sonny's a... Why do you need my date of birth? ...I'm sorry, for what?" he asked, his face falling. "For the birth certificate? Are you telling me Olivia's given birth?... No, I understand patient confidentiality, but..." He stopped and the smallest of smiles crept onto his face. "No, I understand perfectly, Constance. Of course... Yes, those details are correct... Ari? She's fine... Yes, doing well..." The smile became a grin. "Yes, it is great when your _kids_ are good and healthy," he repeated for Will's benefit. "Do I need to come down there and... Not advisable? Confidentiality... right, no, I understand... But the birth certificate? ...I'm sure you will... No, thank _you_ , Constance. Have a good night."

When Sonny hung up Will reached out for him. "What...?"

"Remind me to send her a fruit basket. Or a TV. Or buy her a house or something," Sonny said, looking at the phone in his hands.

"Olivia's given birth?"

"Yeah, some point these evening by the sounds of it."

"Why didn't they call you? You're his father—"

"Rights of the mom," Sonny said. "I very much got the impression that Constance shouldn't have called me. That was her way of letting me know."

"What?"

"She was asking for details for the birth certificate. Claimed she couldn't find my details on the system."

"So your name's going to be on it?"

"I don't see how it can't be," Sonny said, "we have the paternity test results."

"You should be there," Will said. "If you want to go—"

"Ari—"

"I'll stay. You go."

"No."

"Son, this is not the time to pull the 'both our kid' crap. You have a son."

"And I'm not supposed to know," he said sadly. "She broke pretty much every rule to call me, and if I just turn up then they're going to want to know why I'm there."

"Sonny—"

"You were the one just going on about being diplomatic about this, and respecting the fact that Olivia's legally his mom. And now you're telling me to just barge in there?"

"...Yes," Will laughed.

"Tomorrow," Sonny decided. "We can just drop by tomorrow and we'll be surprised to see them all there. Ari's due a check up in a few months, we can say it's about that."

"But—"

"He's here, Will. He's actually here and I'm not there. And believe me when I say I want to go, I really do. But if I go then I'm not going to want to leave until I've seen him, held him. And I know that once I do that... When I first held Ari I didn't want to let her go. I put her into Gabi's arms but there was a part of me that never wanted to let her go. Ever."

"Yeah, I felt the same."

"So I just turn up and cause more bad feelings and once I have seen him, held him... then what? Put him into Olivia's arms and walk away? I don't think I can do that, Will."

"But you can stay away?"

"...Tonight. Maybe."

"Maybe they'll call later. Once everything's settled down."

"Maybe," Sonny said, but it was clear he didn't believe it.

Will pulled him in for a hug and held on tightly. "We'll both go in tomorrow. Whether they call or not, we're going."

"OK."

~~~

Will cracked open an eye and couldn't help but smile. "This is stupid," he whispered.

"What?" Sonny whispered back without opening his eyes.

"Us pretending to sleep."

"I'm totally asleep."

"Sure."

"How did you know I wasn't?"

"Well I could hear you thinking for one, but mostly your breathing."

"Sonny opened an eye to look at him. "My breathing?"

"Yeah. I can always tell by the way you're breathing whether you're asleep or not."

"Creep."

"Yet you still love me."

"True," Sonny laughed, opening his other eye.

"Talk to me."

"It's just..." he started, rolling onto his back to stare at the ceiling. "I know very little of this has gone the way that we planned, but I imagined this so very differently. He's here and we're not there. That's our son, Will, and we haven't even seen him."

"Tomorrow—"

"You were supposed to sleep through that first night but you didn't. You always said that it felt like a part of you knew Ari was here and waiting to meet her dad. My son is here, Will. He's here and he's there and I'm not."

"But you will be, Sonny. You will be there and you're going to be his dad for the rest of your life."

"But what kind of dad?" Sonny asked. "Part time? One that hands him over every weekend to two people who keep saying they're his parents?"

"Sonny—"

"I know we're supposed to try and stay calm and rational and logical over this but... I can't, Will. I can't. It _hurts_ ," he said, putting one hand on his chest, "and I don't know what I can do to make it better or make it go away except having him here with us. He should be here with us."

Will curled in beside Sonny, resting a hand over the one on his chest. "I know," he said, "and I wish more than anything that I could do something to make this better for you. But all I can do, all either of us can do, is wait."

"They'll be spending time with him. _Bonding_ ," he added with a bite. "Our son and they'll be bonding with him. What judge will take away a child from a couple who have bonded with him? Just hand him over to another parent?"

"Hey, I managed fine," Will said. "Barely even remember—"

"That's different and you know it. He's not in your life, Will. He hasn't been for a really long time. If we go for the quick settle then they will be in his life and they won't go away. JJ and Olivia are always going to be there and Alex is always going to be torn between us, no matter how hard we try to make it as simple and easy as possible."

"We can't change what is," Will said, "we can only change how we deal with it. We can stand and shout and rage and try to force things to go our way. Or we can—"

"I know what we should do, what would be best. But it doesn't—"

"I know. I know, love. But if life were easy then we wouldn't appreciate the things we have when we get them."

"Did you get shares in Hallmark or something?" Sonny laughed.

"Hey," Will said, propping himself up so he could look at Sonny. "One day we are going to look back on this and—"

"If you say laugh I will hurt you," Sonny laughed. "There is nothing about this which is even remotely funny."

"You know what I mean. One day we will be that family. The four of us."

"In the house?" Sonny asked. "You notice we've stopped talking about it?"

"What?"

"We stopped talking about us moving into the house."

"I... it's just..." Will sighed. "We have no idea what's going on and so we don't know where we need to be."

"No to mention all the stuff for Alex is there," Sonny pointed out.

"We'll know more after tomorrow. Then we can start to deal with this and make plans. What?" he asked when Sonny laughed softly.

"Remember when Ari was sick?"

"Far too vividly," he said.

"You said that I was the one holding you together."

"You were."

"I didn't think you were weak, I've never thought that. But look at us now." He reached up and hooked a hand around Will's neck, pulling him down for a kiss.

"Whatever you need me to do," Will said quietly in a promise. "Whatever you need."

~~~

As they arrived at the hospital elevator Arianna looked from one father to the other. "Am I seeing the doctor today?"

"No, baby," Will said, picking her up and seating her on his hip as they walked in and selected the right floor. "We just need to check up on something, that's all."

"I don't like hospitals," Ari pouted.

"I know."

"I like Connie though."

"What?"

"Constance," Sonny supplied. "Although she's the only one who gets to call her that,"

"Trust our daughter to be the one to win her over," Will quipped.

"Everyone loves Ari."

In response she grinned at them and planted a kiss on Will's cheek. The door slid open and they walked out into chaos.

"I don't understand, why can't I see her?" JJ asked in frustration.

"Because that's her wishes and we have to respect them," Constance said, standing her ground between JJ and the maternity rooms. "And you can stand there and shout all you want, all I'm going to do is call security to remove you."

"Last night—"

"Was last night. Things change."

JJ turned around in frustration and caught sight of Will and Sonny. "What are you doing here?"

"What's going on?" Will asked calmly, his hand resting protectively on Arianna's back. "Is everything OK?"

"Don't pretend you don't know?"

"Don't know what?" Sonny asked, feigning ignorance. "Is everything OK? Is Olivia—"

"She gave birth," Jennifer said calmly. "She and the baby are fine. I'm sorry we didn't call—"

"They knew, Mom, that's why they're here."

"And how would we know?" Will challenged.

"Why are you here then, if not for—"

"I need to see my doctor," Arianna chimed in with a timing that made her fathers love her even more.

"She won't see me," JJ said despondently. "Last night we were... I wanted to call you but she wanted one night. Just one night with Alex and now—"

"She doesn't want to see anyone," Constance said pointedly. "Was very clear on that, boys. Alex is in with her and she doesn't want to see anyone."

Sonny took half a step forward, his body language already protesting before his voice. "That's my son—"

"I'm sorry," Constance said. "There's nothing I can do."

"What am I supposed to do now?" JJ asked Jennifer.

"You?" Sonny asked. "What are _you_ supposed to do? JJ, that's... he's my _son_."

"You don't think I know that?" JJ snapped. "You don't think I am so very aware of the fact that Alex is yours? No one will let me forget it."

"Is that what you're trying to do?" Sonny challenged. "Is this interrupting your little dream of you and Olivia raising him as your own?"

"We never... That wasn't what we wanted—"

"But it's what you _did_ ," Sonny said. "We are supposed to be in court this afternoon to sort out custody. Custody of a child that has nothing to do with either of you and everything to do with me. Custody of _my_ son, JJ. A baby that Will and I have wanted for years, waited for, prepared for... Most couples don't have to think about it in the way that we do. Most couples just... have a family But it's not like that for us."

"Son," Will said carefully. "Not here. Not now. Please."

"Sorry," he whispered, falling back in beside Will. He reached out and put a reassuring hand on Ari's arm. "It's OK, sweetie."

"Can I see my brother?" she asked.

"I... I don't think so," Will said, "not right now, baby."

"Why?"

"Because... because Olivia and the baby need to rest."

"When can I see him?"

Constance walked over to her and smiled. "Hey there. How's my favourite girl?"

"I wanna see my brother."

"I know, honey. But your daddy's right. He needs to rest. I'm sure that you'll see him soon enough."

"You promise?"

"You know me better than that, honey," she grinned. "I don't do promises."

Ari sighed and nodded.

"But we try, don't we? We try real hard. Now, how about you take your daddies home, OK? We'll be in touch." She looked over at Will and then Sonny. "Nothing you can do here except make it worse. So go home."

"OK," Will whispered.

"Here," she said, handing over an envelope to them. "Ari's paperwork," she said, her tone heavy.

Without another word they headed back to the elevator bank. Once inside and descending, Will put Ari down and watched over Sonny's shoulder as he opened the envelope Constance had given him. Inside a folded piece of blank paper was a Polaroid of a sleeping baby, a soft wisp of dark hair on a head that was the very picture of Sonny.

~~~

While he waited for his dad to finish Sonny stared at the picture. He'd looked at it so much that he could probably have drawn it from memory, but it somehow didn't lose its attraction.

When Ari was a newborn in his arms he'd been struck by the connection that he'd felt to her in that instant. He'd not been able to name it then, truth be told he'd been so caught up in their situation on Smith Island that he'd not even registered the depth of it. But that night, waiting for Will, replaying Ari's birth over and over in his head and his heart, he'd started to realise that he was going to be a dad to her. He was going to feel like her father for the rest of his life.

Marrying Will, the legal documents, the discussions over surnames, even the fact that there was some of his biology in her now, it was all just semantics. Arianna Grace Horton had been his daughter long before her first breath. He just hadn't known it then.

Now here was a child that he had known it about. His son. His Alex.

He knew the weight and feel of Arianna in his arms but he didn't for Alex. He knew the way her face moved when she slept but not Alex's. He knew the shade of her eyes, how they held yours as she learned who these people were and what they meant to her.

He didn't even know if Alex had the dark eyes to go with his dark hair. Then again, he was mere hours old when Constance had stolen her chance to do this for them, so there was a good chance that what lay behind those closed eyelids were still blue.

He hoped they would darken. It's what Will wanted.

"Sonny, hey." He looked up to see Justin standing in the doorway to his office. "I'm all yours."

Sonny followed his father into the room, shutting the door behind him. He took up his usual seat in front of the desk, off to the right. On instinct he looked over at the empty chair beside him where Will would normally sit.

"Remember when I'd just come over for normal reasons?" Sonny asked. "Like we'd just have lunch to catch up because we were so busy?"

"Missing that?"

"Missing a lot," Sonny admitted. "I miss conversations with Will that weren't about babies and custody and what we're going to do with the house. Are we moving? Are we staying? It feels like there's one big question mark over my life and... I hate it."

"You never did do well with uncertainty."

"That's me. The man with a plan."

"And I admire that in you. Well. The good plans anyway."

"I'm sorry," Sonny said for what felt like the millionth time. "I didn't want to make things difficult for you, for Will, for anyone."

"You just wanted your son."

"I wanted what was best for him. And I honestly thought that being with me and Will was enough."

"It is," Justin said. "You're amazing parents, Sonny. You're an amazing father."

"Well," he grinned, "I had the best example."

"Oh no, you are very much your own man. Your mother and I think you turned out the way you did  
in spite of us, not because of us."

"That's not true," Sonny said. "You and Mom... you gave us boys everything. It was years before I realised Victor and Joey weren't actually my brothers. I mean... you know what I mean," he added with a laugh. "You're just our parents."

"Like you with Arianna."

"Like me with Ari. I was so... nervous at first, not because I didn't think I could be a part of her life, but because I knew that because Will was going to be a father I couldn't mess this up. If I was going to have him in my life then I was going to have her in my life too. I didn't know how that would work out, what role I would play. Now look at me."

"Wondering what role you're going to play in Alex's life," Justin said perceptively. "Your mom called."

"How does she know?"

"Small town, Sonny. Especially when half of it is family."

"They didn't call. We had to find out last night from... someone," he added tactfully. "And when we went to the hospital we couldn't see him. Not properly anyway." He put the Polaroid on the desk. "Meet your grandson."

Justin picked up the picture and looked at it. "He's just like you at that age."

"It's everything Will wanted," Sonny said sadly. "A baby with dark hair and dark eyes. My child. He's supposed to be ours."

"I know that things are on hold at the moment, but when we're back in court—"

"Which won't be for weeks. Alex is fine. Small, early, but fine. He won't be discharged for another few weeks and I don't know about Olivia. So we're looking at weeks, Dad. Weeks before we even start talking about where he's going to live, what happens. Weeks where he's in there with Olivia."

"Sonny—"

"She's shutting out everyone, even JJ. I don't know what's going on with her anymore but I know one thing: she's in there with him. Her and my son."

"I know this time is so precious, I do. But just because you're missing out on—"

"Bonding with him in his first days?" Sonny asked. "Will keeps telling me that he and Lucas have a good relationship now in spite of not having that early time together, and I know that's true. But it's not like there was competition for the spot of father."

"I hate to be the one to break it to you," Justin said in all seriousness, "but even if this had gone your way you still would have had competition for the spot of father."

Sonny caught the look in his father's eye and couldn't help but laugh in spite of himself. "Gay jokes. Nice one, Dad."

"We have a strong case."

"Because people stood up and lied for me."

"We've been over this, Sonny. You did what you did out of love for your family. We did what we did for the same."

"Something else I learned from you."

"Well... If I did teach you that then I'm... thank you."

"You do what you need to do."

"Yes," Justin said.

"Good." Sonny pulled out a dollar bill and put it on the desk.

"What's this? We discussed this, family rates for—"

"I need this formal because I need you to do this, Dad. I want you to be the one to do all the paperwork. I don't want to go to some stranger and go through all this, then have them tell me all the things that you and Will and everyone else have been saying to me. That we can fight, that we can easily get them to agree to a shared custody arrangement."

"I'm not going to like this, am I?" Justin said.

"Please, Dad. Take the dollar."

"Sonny, you need to think about what it is you're about to do. Talk to Will."

"I can't."

"He's your husband. He needs to be here for this."

"If I talk to him, if he were here... I wouldn't be able to do this."

"Doesn't that tell you something?"

"My whole life people have said the same thing about me," Sonny said. "Every school report, every adult, even you and Mom. They always say how generous I am, how giving. How I put people before myself. And that's what I'm doing. I'm putting them first. All of them. My family."

"Your family," Justin said, still eyeing the dollar.

"Yes. My husband, my daughter... My son. I have to do what's right for them all."

"You are... the most generous person I know," Justin said, "and the fact that I have the honour of calling you my son? Is just amazing. You are... a better man than I hoped you would become. Independent, generous, selfless... And determined," he added. "Your mind is made up."

"Yes."

"And having Will here would just make—"

"An argument where there doesn't need to be one. And that," Sonny said, gesturing to the bill still on the desk, "is my security."

"Well then," Justin said, reaching out and picking it up. "I await instructions from my client."

"It's really simple," Sonny said. "I need some papers drawing up."

~~~

"I always thought I'd get to even it out," Will said as Sonny handed him a wine glass. "You were there for Ari. You were the first person she saw, first one to hold her. And I know it's stupid but I thought... that if I could be the first one to hold him? That it would be a way for me and him to have what you and Ari have."

"Will—"

"She took a risk, you know. Calling us, giving us this?"

"Remember when we first met her?" Sonny said, taking up his seat next to Will. "She wouldn't let me near Ari. Now she's helping me... be a little closer to him."

"He's you."

"Ari's you."

"So now that we've established our children are us," Will said with a grin, "your dad called. Obviously the court hearing's suspended until Olivia's out of hospital. Right now we need to focus on—" He stopped and looked at him. "Hey. It's going to be OK."

"I spoke to Dad," Sonny said quietly.

"This doesn't sound good."

"We talked about a few things. Well. Me mostly. And a bit about you and Ari and... Alex." He took a sip of his wine and pointedly refused to make eye contact. "And I... I made a decision."


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For the record, we were always heading here. Always. The clues have been there, the hints have been there.

After Sonny had finished talking, Will sat there, staring at the wine glass in his hand. He was very aware of the fact that Sonny was waiting for him to say something but he couldn't find the words. He couldn't find anything; no words, no thoughts, no feelings.

He was just numb.

"Will..." Sonny said tentatively. "I know this is..." He trailed off, but didn't look away. "I'm sorry."

"Sorry?" Will said, finding his voice.

"Will—"

"Sorry? For what? For giving up on Alex? On our family? We were supposed to fight. I did all of this so that we could fight. For him. And now you want to... just give up on him?"

"I'm not giving up," Sonny said. "I just can't do that to him. Look at him, Will, look at him." Sonny grabbed the picture and shoved it into Will's free hand. "He is _perfect_ and we're going to fight over him like he's... some toy. I can't do that, I can't. We need this sorted and we need it done now. For his sake, not ours.

"Right now he's in there with Olivia. He's getting to know her, recognise her as the mom he's heard these past few months. I can't drag him out of that—"

"He will adjust," Will said quietly. "I adjusted. Kids are resilient, just look at Arianna."

"This is different and you know it."

"No, I don't."

"Dad's drawing up an agreement that gives them custody and us access rights. We'll still be a part of his life, we'll still see him. He'll know us as his fathers, I promise you that. It's what they offered us in the first place, Dad's pretty sure that they'll accept the offer. By the time Alex is discharged this can all be sorted out."

"This isn't sorting it out," Will said, still looking at his wine.

"This is the best thing—"

"No, it's not," Will said. "I know things are tough right now, I know that you're thinking that this is your only option but it's not. We can fight, we can go to court. We don't have to wait for Olivia to be discharged, things are done in absence all the time. We can push for it, we can—"

"No," Sonny said firmly.

"Please—"

"My mind's made up. This is what we're doing, Will. It's what we have to do. I know you want to fight, believe me I do too. This is... this is the hardest thing I have ever had to do."

Will looked over at him, finally seeing him for what seemed like the first time.

"This goes against everything I believe, everything I want. I look at that picture and... I know he's mine, Will. I know it right in the bones of me and the idea of giving him up tears at me. But it's the right thing to do. I know that in the bones of me too.

"It has to be about him, Will. It has to be. It's our job as his parents to make his life as easy and as secure as we can. Which means we can't turn his early days into a battlefield. He needs to be surrounded by people who love him, who want nothing but the best for him. Who will turn their whole lives around for him.

"Gabi could have fought but she chose not to for Arianna's sake. Because fighting would have distressed her, it might not have gone her way and she could have been locked up for longer. She still sees her, she still... plays a part in Arianna's life. It was the best solution, it still is.

"I don't... I want him here. I want the four of us together and in the house with the dog and the Sunday mornings that we dreamed about. I want it... but I need to be realistic."

"You need to give him up," Will said quietly.

"The longer this takes the more Olivia bonds with Alex and him with her. I don't know what's going on with JJ, but it probably won't be long before he's in there. He's already held Alex, he's already... They're already parents to him, Will. And if I push this, I'll take away the only parents he'll know. Kids are smart, they're adaptable, sure. But they're also affected by what goes on around them.

"All those nights when Ari wouldn't sleep unless we were there. Those days when she wouldn't let us out of her sight? She'd cling to me when I was going to work because one day her mom left and hasn't come back.

"And I know you go on about you adapting to when you found out Lucas was your dad, but you say that like it was easy, like you didn't resent Sami for what she put you through. It changes the relationship that you have with your parents. If I'm going to have any chance of being... a father to Alex? Then I have to put him first.

"We swore that we would put them first. Kids first, always. We're parents and that's what—"

He was cut off when Will surged forward and kissed him, closed mouth but heartfelt.

"I love you," Will said. "You are... you're an amazing father. Arianna is lucky to have you. Alex is lucky to have you. He will be."

"I need your support in this, Will. I can't do this alone."

"You... you're not alone," Will said. "Whatever you need me to do, always."

"I don't want this. I want... what I can't have, not without hurting someone I'd give my life for." He took the picture back from Will and stared at it. "He's real. All I have is a photograph and he's real. And if I don't do this now then when I see him, if I get to hold him—"

"If? No, Sonny, you—"

"I need this sorted before. I need to... I will play any role in his life that I can, Will. You and Gabi didn't have to do the legal stuff, I loved her and was in her life anyway. She was my little girl, a piece of paper didn't change that, didn't change how I felt about her. How I feel. But you were determined to do it, including the part where my rights don't end with us.

"If I have that with Alex, if that's in writing... Then I will know what role I can play in his life."

"Role?" Will asked. "Sonny, you're... You're his father."

"We can make this work, Will. If we want it enough, work at it... We can do this. And maybe when he's older, when he's able to be told things and can make his own choices... Who knows where he'll end up, what may change?

"We're good, right? You and me? You're my forever, Will, you and Arianna. I know in my bones, with every heartbeat, that this is my life. This is every day for the rest of my life. And they're new and fragile and... Things change, Will. So we need to do what's right now. For all of us now.

"I gave you up, Will, I let you go and now look at us. And while I'm not letting Alex go, not completely, and I will never give up on him for as long as my heart is beating... Maybe. We have no idea how this can go.

"But this is right for now. This is... this is what has to happen now. Because this is what is right for him. This is what's best for Alex and that has to be what's important, Will. It has to be. He needs to be loved and cared for and he needs to know, even if he doesn't fully understand it, that his life is... secure. Safe. So I have to do this." 

As Sonny spoke Will realised that he wasn't saying this to convince him, Sonny was saying it to convince _himself_. Will took a deep breath and nodded, kissing Sonny again.

"We can do this. What do you need me to do?"

~~~

He'd make a lousy spy, Will decided, as he tried to figure out how to play this. If he looked like he was sneaking about then that might arose more suspicion. But then it wasn't exactly like he wasn't an unknown in this town or at the hospital even, and he could easily be spotted.

The envelope felt like it weighed a ton in his hand, and he fought the urge to crush it, to throw it away, to not do this. When Justin had come over that morning with it he'd barely said two words on the matter. Instead he'd accepted his standard grandpa cuddle from Arianna, made small talk about matters Will couldn't even remember anymore, and then left as if it were just another day.

Then Will had kissed Sonny's cheek, picked up the envelope, and headed to the door. Pausing for a moment he'd looked back to see his husband trying to get their daughter to come back to the table and finish her breakfast, the battle of wills already starting between them. Normally he loved watching them together, revelled in the little family that they made. Unconventional maybe, unacceptable to some, but to Will it was perfect.

He watched them and all he could think was that there was a space where Alex should be. A space for the high chair that he would eventually take up. A space in their room for the crib. Spaces everywhere that the tiny baby should fill.

As the elevator doors slid open whatever plan he may have formed disappeared as he came face to face with Constance. She looked him up and down, put one hand on her hip and pursed her lips. She didn't move so neither did Will.

"Hey, why don't you take your break while it's quiet," she called back over her shoulder. "I got things covered here."

Constance waited for a moment, stealing quick glances to one side. Then she stepped back. "Two minutes, third door on the left."

Unable to stop himself, Will kissed her cheek as he took off, as fast as he could without breaking into a run, down the corridor and through the door he'd been told. Olivia seemed to be asleep and suddenly all of Will's plans and half-formed ideas seemed to vanish. He looked down at the envelope in his hands and wondered if he should just leave it and—

"Will?"

He looked up to see her watching him, her expression a mixture of surprise and concern.

"How—"

"Please just let me say my bit and I'll go," he said quickly. "I'm not here to argue, I don't want trouble or anything. I just... need to give you this," he said, putting the envelope down on the tray table. "It's... an offer. For Alex. About Alex. We..." He took a deep breath and stared at his fingers still resting on it. "Alex stays with you and JJ. We have access, agreed weekends and holidays, that sort of thing. Sonny's name on the birth certificate. It's what you were originally offering so if it still stands... We'll take it."

"Why?" Olivia asked.

Will looked up at her. "Because Sonny doesn't want to fight. Well, he does, but he can't. Because he wants Alex to live his whole life in a stable environment and us fighting over him won't provide that. Because you're here with him and we're not."

"Will, I only asked for everyone to be kept out because I didn't want to have to deal with all the comments and the looks."

"Exactly," Will said. "So if we sort this out then maybe we can start being parents and focus on what's important. Who's important," he corrected.

"This isn't what you want."

"No, but it's not my call," Will said, catching her eye. "That's never been clearer to me. You and Sonny, you're the ones the law will listen to. Actually, they'll listen to you. Sonny gets a bit of a look in but you hold all the cards. And I think he thinks that some relationship with Alex is better than none."

"I have always wanted you to be a part of his life."

"But that's not what we wanted," Will said. He pushed the envelope a bit closer to her. "So congratulations. You won. He's yours and you and JJ can play happy families."

"Will—"

"Just... accept it. Please. Enough of the courts and enough of the fighting. Just accept this and we can figure out how we're going to do this. Justin's waiting for your lawyer to call, we'll do everything through him but Sonny... I... _we_ wanted to do this in person."

"Why?"

"Because you need to know exactly what we're giving up here," Will said, unable to look at her anymore. "You need to understand that we are doing this for Alex, not you or JJ. We are not doing this for our families or to keep the peace. We are doing this because the first person we are thinking of is our son. He has to come first and we have to do what is right for him.

"Ask me, what's right for him is to be with me and Sonny and Arianna, but you're determined to stop that from happening so we have to look at the next best situation. And that's one where the four of us have the best relationship we can have. We are not friends, Olivia, we are never going to be. I think Sonny would be happy if he never saw JJ again and I can't disagree with that. But if that's not going to happen then we need to find a way past that.

"This is all about him, Olivia. And us... giving him up? We're doing this _because_ it's the best thing for him. Because he can't be fought over and he can't be some prize. We can't change who you are to him, legally I mean. I just... We just wanted to have a baby," he said quietly now. "I had this idea of holding him, holding a baby that was ours but Sonny's and it's all we wanted for so long. And if this is the closest we can get to it then... then we just need to accept that."

"I'm—"

"Don't you dare say you're sorry," Will snapped, changing the mood instantly. "We've heard it so many times and it's not changing a thing, is it? You're sorry, you didn't mean to hurt us, you didn't want to do this, stand a little closer so we can dig the knife in a little more. We trusted you with the most important thing in our lives and look where we are. And our own cousin is right by your side.

"I know he loves you, and I do believe that you love him. I just... I hope you know what you're both getting into, that's all."

"Will—" Olivia began, but she stopped when the door was opened and a nurse wheeled in the bassinet.

"This little man of yours is doing really well," the nurse said, almost oblivious to Will's presence. "Getting stronger every day and—" She stopped when she noticed Will, looking from him to Olivia. "I thought—"

"It's OK," she said quickly. "I asked him to come."

"Right."

"Can we get a moment?"

"I'll be outside," the nurse said, eyeing Will up as if he were about to runner with the baby.

Inside his little crib, Alex stirred and started to cry. Olivia's gaze flickered between him and Will and she could see the conflict in his face.

"I need to go," Will said quickly.

"Wait, you could... do you want to...?"

"I..." Will started, stopping when she lifted Alex out and into her arms. He seemed to settle a little, comforted by her presence. His eyes flicked upwards and even though Will didn't have a clear view, he could see the warm darkness of them. "I have to go," he said, turning and walking away before he talked himself out of it.

~~~

He dropped his keys onto the desk and pushed the door shut behind him. When Sonny appeared he looked up and nodded once, just briefly.

"It's done," he said. "She didn't say they'd accept but... I think they will. I..." He stopped, looking at Sonny's face and seeing so much of Alex there. "He's perfect, Sonny," he whispered. "He's just... they brought him in and he was unsettled or something and I just wanted... I wanted to go and pick him up. I wanted to hold him close the way that I used to hold Ari close and I'd feel her breathing. I'd... put my hand on her little chest and watch it rise and fall and I'd feel her heart beating.

"I'd reach out for her and hold her hand, or she'd grab my finger and I wanted him to do that. I wanted to put my little finger in his hand and for him to hold on and not let me go. I wanted to hold him and say that I was his dad, Sonny.

"He's... he's supposed to be ours," Will said quietly as Sonny came up to him and pressed their foreheads together. "This wasn't supposed to be like this."

"I know, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry."

"He's you. He's... Dark hair and dark eyes and you. And I get it."

"Get what?"

"You said you saw me in Ari and you loved her. I saw you and I... I love him. That's our boy, Sonny. That's... he's supposed to be ours."

There were no gasping sobs, no wails, no sounds. They stood against each other and let the tears fall without ceremony.

~~~

"Where's Alex?" JJ's question was immediate as he was shown into Olivia's room that evening.

"Check up," Olivia said as he kissed her cheek before pressing one against her lips. "He's fine, don't worry."

"Don't worry? You shut me out, Liv, how was I not going to worry?"

"I'm sorry," she said, putting a hand to his cheek. Her fingers scratched against the stubble there and she smiled gently. "I just needed some time to get my head around it all."

"Did you? Is everything OK?"

"It will be," she said, her eyes flicking for a second to the envelope that Will had brought in. "I just... I need to ask you something."

"Anything."

"Did you mean it? What you said, about keeping your family together?"

"Of course I did," he said, sitting on the edge of the bed. "I love you, you know that, right?"

"I love you too."

"So of course I'm going to work to keep us all together. Where's this come from, Liv?"

"I just... I know this is hard for you, you're really close to Will and Sonny and I don't want you thinking that you _have_ to support me—"

"I don't think that," JJ said. "Well, the having to part anyway. I love you, I love Alex. And I will fight to my last breath to keep us all together, OK?"

"OK," she whispered.

"OK," he said, kissing her gently. "You know you really scared me, shutting me out like that."

"I'm sorry."

"I was worried something was wrong, that you were—"

"I am not depressed," she laughed softly. "In fact, I... I think things have never been better."

"Me either," JJ said before he kissed her again.

"Stay with me tonight?"

"Will they let me?" JJ asked.

Olivia shrugged. "Stay until they make you leave then."

"I'm not leaving you," JJ said, holding her hand tightly in his. "Never."

"No matter what?"

"No matter what."

~~~

"...thanks, Mom. No, we really appreciate it... He's... we're just a little lost right now," Sonny admitted, "but we'll get there. We'll be OK... Yeah... Well, give her big kisses from us, tell her we love her, and we'll see her in the morning... OK, love you too... Bye."

"You didn't have to do that," Will said quietly after Sonny hung up.

"I just thought it'd do us good to have some time to ourselves."

"No kids," Will said sadly.

"No, that's wasn't why—"

"I know," he said, reaching out for Sonny's hand. "I know."

"I think you and I need to focus on each other for a bit."

"How are we going to do this, Sonny? How are we going to be here and watch him being raised by them?"

"I don't know."

"I know we talked about it, but I never really let myself think about what it would be like until now," Will admitted. "I just... I keep thinking about Dad, is that weird?"

"Your dad?"

"Yeah. He's been a part of my life, of Allie's life, but never on the day-to-day basis, not really. I never really thought about what that must have been like for him."

"He made it work, though. You two have an amazing relationship."

"Yeah, but it's not the same, is it?" Will asked, settling back into Sonny's arms. "He wasn't there for me every day, putting me to bed every night. He and I don't have what Ari and I have."

"But it works," Sonny whispered against Will's ear. "You guys are great. Don't tie yourself up in what you could be, look at what you are."

"Is that how you're dealing with it?"

"Trying to," Sonny admitted. "If the deal is accepted—"

"It will be."

"—then we will see them around Salem all the time."

"We'll need to sell the house," Will said. "Ari loves that house."

"So do you."

"We were supposed to be there as a family. The four of us, a dog, you and I sitting on that balcony drinking coffee on a Sunday morning while the kids and the dog played in the garden. We were supposed to be a family—"

"We still are," Sonny cut across. "You, me and Ari will always be a family. I promise you that, Will. We are... going to make this work. We have to. For him."

"We will, Son. We... we can do this."

"Is it working?" Sonny asked.

"What?"

"Telling yourself that this is going to be fine. Is it convincing you?"

"...No," Will admitted.

"Me either."

They sat in silence for a moment, Sonny's fingers drawing patterns on Will's arm. Will felt his body rising and falling with every breath Sonny took, arms loose but secure around him. He moved his hand to cover one of Sonny's, their fingers interlocking.

"Look at it this way," Will said eventually. "Minimal three am feedings."

"Dirty diapers."

"Temper tantrums."

"Fighting sleep at bedtime."

"Running around after him when he's found his feet."

"And having to put everything up on higher shelves," Sonny said.

"No nagging over homework when he starts school."

"No waiting up when he's late home past curfew."

"Or having to tip him out of bed when he sleeps in."

"Thrown baby food everywhere."

"Changing clothes every five minutes."

"The tears when he's cutting teeth," Sonny added.

"Or the first time he hurts himself." 

"You won't have to do the girl talk."

"Me?" Will asked.

"You want me to do it?" Sonny asked with a laugh. "One of us has actually dated them."

"Yeah, and that went so well."

"You have more experience than I do."

"OK, fine. I do the girl talk. But he could like boys."

"In which case we'll be fine," Sonny pointed out.

"If he's anything like his dad he'll do fine in that department. Have... whoever, falling at his feet."

"You think?"

"Like you don't know," Will laughed.

"Nope. Only have eyes for my husband."

"Romantic."

"And proud of it." Sonny kissed the side of Will's head and breathed in deeply. "Need to set that positive example."

"I will remind you of that when Alex is a teenager and his hormones are running wild."

"What? You think he'll be a player?"

"Player?" Will giggled. "No, I just think that sometimes kids turn out differently from their parents just to spite them. Look at me and Mom."

"So does that mean Ari is going to be Sami?"

"Oh god, I hope not!"

"And Alex would be... Who's the black sheep on my side?"

"Um, everyone?" Will laughed.

"Hey, we're not _that_ bad," Sonny said, his free hand moving to nip playfully at Will's side. "If anything we need to look at Mom's side. The Johnson have their fair share of black sheeps. There's Uncle Jack and there's..." He trailed off suddenly.

"JJ," Will finished.

"I'm sorry."

"For what?"

"We were... I almost forgot."

"Me too. But we're never going to forget. JJ is going to be a father figure to Alex and there's nothing we can do about it."

"I wonder what Alex will call him," Sonny mused. "I mean, Ari calls me Papa and we said it'd make sense if Alex did that too."

"Anything but dad," Will said firmly. "He's... he's not. Alex can call you that."

"But—"

"You're his dad. So Alex is going to call you dad. No arguments."

"OK," Sonny said quietly, pressing another kiss into Will's hair.

"We tell Ari tomorrow," Will said.

"There's no rush—"

"No, she has to know. She'll pick up on it anyway, and once the paperwork is signed it's not as if we'll be able to hide it."

"If you're sure."

"We can go over for breakfast tomorrow, talk to her then."

"Sami won't like it."

Will groaned softly. "Did I mention how grateful I am that she and EJ are away?"

"How did you manage to stop her coming home when Alex was born?" Sonny asked.

"Told her she'd make it worse," Will said. "Bit of a guilt trip maybe. I... oh god. I'm her. I tried so hard to be different but I'm still her."

"Only the good bits," Sonny said.

"My mom has good bits?"

"Hey, don't put her down. You know how supportive she was of us when my Mom was having... one of her many fits about us. And she was great when Gabi... went. Not to mention the check for the surrogacy fees. Your mom has a generous heart and she'll do anything for her kids. You get that from her."

"Maybe."

"No maybe about it. You are so aware of the situations you put your kids into and you make sure that they come first."

"Kids."

"What?"

"You said 'your kids'. Plural."

"...Yeah."

"We have kids, Sonny. Plural."

"I know."

"I... imagined it differently."

"Me too."

"You know what though?" Will said, sitting up a little and turning so he was facing Sonny. "Even after all of this? I wouldn't change a single thing."

"Really?"

"Really," Will smiled. "We have a _son_. No matter what happens, no matter where he lives? He's our son. We are always going to know that."

"And will we know what we're going to tell him when he asks why we stopped fighting for him?"

Will nodded. "When you love someone more than you thought it possible to love someone, sometimes you have to let them go. There's a reason it's a saying, Alex. Gabi let Ari go, your dad let me go once. But we never really let you go, we just... let out the heartstrings a little. We were always there for you and we will always be there for you. And no matter who you are or what you do, or who you call mom and dad? We will always love you."

Blinking back tears, Sonny reached out to Will, his fingers pushing along his cheek and along his jaw line as well as past his ear and into the hairline. "And I'll always love you."

"Me too," Will said before kissing him. " _We'll always be a family, no matter where we are_."

Sonny smiled as he recognised the phrase they'd come up with when Gabi had gone to prison. They'd told Arianna that before and after every visit, the days when she'd missed her mom more and the moments when they realised that Gabi was aching for their home life once more.

"We just... need to rise above it," Will said. "No matter what they say or what they do, we have to keep calm. We need to be the reasonable ones. For him."

"What?"

"We don't bad-mouth them, we don't antagonise them. We don't do anything, in public or private, that could sway Alex's view of them. No matter what we think or feel, we just... have to rise above it."

"Moral high ground?"

"Exactly. He needs to make up his own mind about us. And no matter what they do or how they are with is, he'll do that one day."

"And we need to be the parents who were always calm and rational and respectful, got it." Sonny's finger traced a line down Will's cheek to his lips. "What if they also do that?"

"Then Alex is raised by four parents who did their best to give him a loving and respectful upbringing."

"One in which he saw his dads and his sister once a week."

"But he'll see us. He'll know us. And let's be honest about it – Salem is a fishbowl. He'll see us all the time. Plus the way our jobs are we'll be able to do last minute babysitting and school runs and pick ups and any time he wants to see us we'll be about."

"I guess..."

"We need to be positive about this," Will said. "We need to go into this and believe that things will work out."

"Why?"

"Because if we don't then we won't be able to hold it together and I don't know if I can stand that."

"Will, you will always—"

"No, not for me. Watching you not be a major part of his life. I can't do that, Sonny. I can't watch you suffer and not..." He turned his head to kiss Sonny's hand. "I can't stand seeing you hurt."

"I'm OK."

"No, you're not," Will said sadly. "Neither am I."

"But we will be?" Sonny said, his response becoming a question unintentionally.

"We have to be," Will replied, moving so he could settle against Sonny's chest.

~~~

Justin held out the wine glass to Adrienne as she came downstairs, and she took it gratefully. "That took a while."

"She's unsettled," Adrienne said. "Unsurprising really."

"They're doing their best—"

"I didn't mean the boys," she clarified. "I meant JJ and _her_."

"Her," Justin laughed softly.

"Small ears mean I can't say what I really think."

"Adrienne—"

"No, I'm sorry, but you can't expect me to just roll over on this? After what happened with our boys—"

"I know, but this is their fight."

"One they're giving up on," she said before taking a large mouthful of the wine. "Why are you letting them do it?"

"Firstly, you're not supposed to know about that—"

"Then make sure the door is shut properly," she cut across. "And we both know that you only do that when you need me to know what's going on.

"And secondly, _let_ them? Leaving aside the fact we both know how wonderfully stubborn our son can be, at the end of the day they hired me as their lawyer and I do as I'm instructed."

"Still hate it."

"So do I," Justin said, "but it's not my choice. It's not ours."

"That's his son and I just... I can't imagine for one second that they're both OK with not being hands-on fathers to him every day."

"I imagine they're not, but this isn't about them, is it?"

"What do you mean?"

"This is about them doing what's right for Alex. Ask me, I think they're being amazing parents."

"Can I tell you something?"

"Can I stop you?" Justin quipped.

Adrienne pulled a face, then looked down. "I used to think that Will and Arianna were the worst thing that could have happened to Sonny. And putting her to bed tonight, every time I see her? It's a reminder of how wrong I got it."

"You were entitled to your reservations—"

"Thing is, I was doing what I thought was right for Sonny. I honestly believed that him being involved with Will and a child that wasn't his was going to be a disaster. And I was wrong. I was so very, very wrong."

Justin looked at his wife and he understood. "You think they're wrong."

"I think they honestly believe they're doing the right thing, I think they believe that Alex will have a better life if he's not fought over, but I can't see it, Justin. I can't. All I can see is that little boy being raised by people who are not his parents – and you know what I mean by that –" she said, cutting his comment off before he could make it, "and I don't see how that can be considered a good thing in any situation."

"Nonetheless ,it's what they want."

"And when Sonny wanted to climb out of his bedroom window we should have just let him?" she challenged. "Part of being a parent is doing right by your kids, and I know that's what our boys are doing, but isn't it our job as _their_ parents to do right by them and why are you looking at me like that?"

"You called Will our boy."

"Yes. Well." She quirked her mouth a little and gave a small shrug. "Four years of marriage, figured I should," she quipped.

"That, and you are loving being a grandmother."

"I am," she grinned, "more than I thought I would. Sonny makes a good dad."

"He's an amazing dad," Justin countered.

"Gets that from you. I just wish that he'd get to be a proper dad to Alex."

"Who says he won't? Plenty of children are raised by separated parents, and we both know that Sonny will be as involved as he can be in Alex's life."

"But it's not the same, is it?"

"No, it's not. But it's the best that they're going to get."

"Unless they fight."

"Which they won't do."

"Or Olivia changes her mind."

"Adrienne, don't you even think about it," Justin warned. "I mean it. So much hangs on a tentative truce and if you even threaten it you know that they will never forgive you for it."

"I didn't say anything!" she protested, holding her hands up.

"You were thinking it. I know you too well."

"Thinking it and acting on it are two different things, my love. I'm sure the boys have had their fair share of thoughts. As have you," she added, raising an eyebrow in that _I know you too_ kind of way. "For their sake I will behave." She watched and waited until Justin was taking a sip of his own wine before saying, "I'm not Sami."

When he spluttered, halfway between laughing and choking, she grinned and sipped at her own drink.

~~~

They'd slept in longer than they'd planned, having not actually slept until the small hours of the morning. Will showered first, then while Sonny was in the bathroom Will picked up his phone and checked his messages. Seeing the text from Justin he called him.

"Hey, is everything OK?" he asked.

"Fine," Justin said. "Adrienne's taken Arianna out to feed the horses."

"Well that's her at the stables for a good hour or two," Will laughed.

"Is Sonny there?"

"He... just got out of the shower," Will said, turning when he heard the bathroom door open. "It's your dad," he explained to him. "What's going on?"

"Can you two meet me at the hospital?" Justin asked.

"Hospital?" Will repeated. "Is Alex—"

"Will, it's fine, there's nothing to worry about," Justin said quickly. "It's just some... paperwork."

"Paperwork?"

Beside him Sonny shook his head. "Not yet, Will, I..."

"I wouldn't ask if it weren't important," Justin continued.

"He says it's important," Will said to Sonny.

Sonny took the phone from Will. "Hey, Dad. Can't you just bring it over here? Or we can come to you? We were coming over to pick up Ari anyway and—"

"I really think we should do this there," Justin said. "Trust me?"

"Dad, I—"

"An hour enough time? I'll see you there."

And then he hung up, leaving Sonny to hand the phone back to his husband.

"Did he say what--?" Will asked.

"Not a word," Sonny said. "I really could do without being there."

"Why?"

"Because," Sonny said as he started towards the bedroom, "I don't know if I can meet my son with _them_ there." He spat out the word without any further comment or elaboration, and so Will said nothing.

~~~

Will found Sonny's hand and grasped it tightly as once again they found themselves stepping off the elevator together. Justin was deep in conversation with Constance and, at first glance, there was no sign of JJ or Olivia or any of the Deverauxs.

"Hey," Justin said as he noticed them approaching. "Thanks for coming down."

"You didn't give us much choice," Will said, pulling Sonny in a little closer.

"Yeah, you got a pen, Constance?" Justin asked, seemingly ignoring them.

"Why indeed I do," she said, far too cheerily and presenting one as if it were a cheque from some game show.

"What is going on?" Sonny asked in exasperation.

"Olivia's lawyer sent over some papers this morning for you to sign," Justin said, pushing them over to them.

"And we have to be here to sign them?"

"No, but I thought you'd want to."

"Justin—" Will started, stopping when he felt Sonny freeze up. "What?"

Sonny said nothing, just turned the pages so Will could see them.

"Son, I—"

Now it was Will's turn to say nothing.

"These arrived this morning," Justin explained. "Not entirely sure why she changed her mind but—"

"Is this for real?" Will asked.

"Called and confirmed myself. Obviously we have to wait until 42 days but this is the first step."

"But... why?"

"I don't have that answer for you," Justin said, "all I know is what's in those papers."

"Adoption papers," Sonny said quietly. "I don't understand."

"It's simple," Constance said. "You and Will sign that, your dad starts the adoption process. In a few weeks when the 42 days are up, Olivia signs over her parental rights, Will formally adopts Alex, and you get to move to this house your dad's been telling me about.

"But first you gotta sign that then I can take you to see him."

"See who?" Sonny asked, his head spinning.

"Alex of course," she smiled. "Now autograph that sheet."

Sonny picked up the pen, his gaze still skimming over phrases such as _custody_ and _adoption_ and _full parental rights_.

"Do they...?" Will asked. "I mean... JJ and Olivia...?"

"No," Justin said. "This is, well, the original agreement. Close enough anyway, obviously things have changed a little. But he's... yours. All yours."

Will looked at Sonny, then put his hand over his husband's. "Son?"

"I... just..."

"OK," Will said, taking the pen from him and pulling the sheet closer. He found the line by his printed name and, taking a deep breath, signed. "Let's do this."

Sonny nodded and, finding his nerve, took the pen and signed his name.

"Let's go meet your boy," Constance said. "You have some filing to do," she said to Justin, handing him the page. "Oh, and if you're heading that way there's the birth certificate. Might as well make it all official while we're at it."

She handed the certificate to Will to see. His first instinct was to check that Sonny was listed as the father, but then the name surprised him.

"Son, look," he said showing him the page.

"Alex... William Kiriakis," Sonny read. "She did this?"

Constance nodded. "Don't ask me what happened," she shrugged. "I just do what I'm told, only this time I did it without complaint." She took the birth certificate back from Will and handed it to Justin. "Now, how about I take the dads to see their son?"

"Sounds good to me," Justin smiled. "You guys take all the time you need, we're more than happy to look after Ari."

"I... Dad... thanks," Sonny managed to say.

In silence, their feet shuffling on the floor, they followed Constance down the corridor to an empty room.

"Thought you'd want some privacy," she said. "Be right back."

Sonny perched on the edge of the bed, his legs almost giving way. "I don't know if I'm ready for this," he admitted with a soft laugh.

"Oh I know that feeling," Will laughed, moving to stand in front of him.

"I just... We're still asleep, right? We're still in bed and I'm dreaming. This isn't... This is..."

"I know," Will said. He took Sonny's face in his hands and kissed him gently. "But it's happening."

"Why?"

"Do you care?"

"...A little," Sonny admitted. "Yesterday we gave them what they wanted and today they, she... does this. What changed?"

Will shrugged, his fingers absent-mindedly pushing up strands of Sonny's hair at the front. "Being a parent means doing what's best for your kid. Maybe she's—"

He stopped when the door opened and Constance came in with a small bundle in her arms. "Now then, young Alex. These two have been waiting a real long time to meet you so if they get emotional you'll have to forgive them. They're really good guys and you are one lucky kid. Now," she said, looking up at them, "who's first?"

"Will," Sonny said quickly. "He should—"

"No," Will interrupted.

"You said you wanted to even things out—"

"This isn't a competition," Will laughed. "This... this is you."

"Will—"

"Just give him to Sonny," Will said, taking a step backwards and holding his hands up.

"If you say so," Constance said, moving over to Sonny. She carefully placed Alex into Sonny's arms.

He stirred a little, whinging a little at the unfamiliarity of this new person.

"Hey, hey, hey," Will said, moving to bracket Alex. "It's OK, it's OK."

"Hi," Sonny whispered, looking down into those dark eyes. "Hi. I'm..."

"This is your dad," Will finished for him, putting his arms around Sonny to hold them both. "Although I think you're going to end up calling him papa. That's what your sister calls him."

"Hi," Sonny said again, utterly transfixed by the child in his arms.

Will smiled, threading a hand up into Sonny's hair at the back of his head. He pulled him in close and kissed his forehead. 

~~~

"Can I hold him?"

Sonny laughed as Arianna burst into the room, running straight over to him without any other form of greeting. She pulled herself short just in front of where he was sitting, Alex nestled in his arms, and she peered down as he looked up.

"I wanna hold him."

"Maybe in a bit, sweetie," Will said.

"He's my brother!"

"Yes, he is, but papa just fed him and he's a little sleepy."

"I won't wake him, promise," she said, reaching out a hand. She ended up prodding his cheek and while he moved his head a little, he didn't complain.

"Just a quick hold, OK?" Sonny said, carefully getting to his feet. "Sit down."

Ari scrambled up into the chair and sat all the way back, holding out her arms as if she were about to receive a present. Sonny carefully laid Alex across her lap, helping her support his head.

"What do you think?" he asked.

"He's so pretty," Ari said. "Can we take him home?"

"In a few weeks, he still needs the doctors to look after him for a bit."

"Like I did?"

"In a way, yeah. He's not sick, but because he was a little early they just want to make sure that everything's OK."

"He looks like you, Papa," Ari said, looking up at Sonny.

"You think?"

"I think so too," Will said, turning to look at Adrienne and Justin. "Of course that's not why I'm besotted."

"Of course not," Adrienne laughed, pulling him in for a hug.

"I take it you've enjoyed your day?" Justin asked.

"Day?" Will said, looking at his watch. "Oh my god, when did it get so late?"

"Time flies when you're having fun," Justin said as Adrienne went to join Sonny and Ari. "You'll be pleased to know I've had a very productive day. All the groundwork has been put in place for the adoption. As per the agreement, when Alex is discharged he'll go home with you and Sonny. My advice is hold off on any move until Olivia's signed away her rights, but after that..."

"After that we get the life we wanted," Will said, looking back over at his family and feeling his heart clench a little with the emotion of it all. "This morning when we woke up... I never thought we'd..."

"Just goes to show how things can change. Hey, have you spoken to your mom yet?"

"Yes, had a quick call earlier. She and EJ are cutting their Europe trip short, they'll be home in a few days. Can't really complain, she kept her distance through all the mediation and court drama."

"What about your dad?"

"He said that – speak of the devil," he said as there was a gentle knock at the door and Lucas' head peered 'round. "Hey Dad, come meet your grandson."

"Seems like you have a full house," Lucas said, coming into the room and spotting Ari with Alex. "Oh I can't possibly take him from his sister."

"I have a brother!" Ari declared loudly. "Grandpa Luca, I have a brother."

"Yes you do, princess," Lucas said.

Alex started to protest at the noise level and so Sonny picked him up and cradled him close. Instinctively Will moved closer, hooking a finger into his tiny little hand. Calmed by their presence Alex quietened.

"Well you two seem to have the hang of it," Lucas commented, hauling Arianna up on to his hip so she could first give him a welcome hug, then be on the same level as Alex.

"Not our first go at this, Dad," Will laughed.

"No, no it's not," Lucas said. "And I'm so glad you get this go."

"Hey, did you hear about the name?" Sonny asked.

"Alex? I thought that's what you wanted."

"Alex William," Sonny said. "And Olivia chose it."

"Did she now?" Lucas asked, his tone suddenly a little colder.

"Dad, don't," Will said. "Whatever happened in the past it would have been hard for her to give him up. We know how hard." He put his free hand on the small of Sonny's back and leant his head against his. "So can we just... leave her alone."

"After what she did—"

"Please?" Will asked. "For me. For us. For Alex. We just want to draw a line under it all and focus on what's important: our family."

"I guess," Lucas said, looking at Sonny's face and the expression he was trying to conceal.

"I gotta just... bathroom break," Will said with a grin. He kissed the top of Alex's head before extricating himself carefully. Once outside the room he realised he'd been followed.

"You know Sonny's not buyin' into that forgiveness crap, right?" Lucas said.

"It's not forgiveness, Dad," Will said. "Neither of us are going to forget what they did to us. I just don't want half of Salem making things difficult for them."

"Look, I'm not sayin' that we'll all go back to being one big happy family, get the feeling that boat has sailed—"

"You think?"

"—but I have to ask why you're playing the good guy card."

"Because he's not ours yet," Will said, gesturing back to the room. "Not mine anyway. He is three days old, Dad. Three. And Olivia has rights until he is forty-two days old. Thirty-nine days she has in which to change her mind and take him back and we start all this again. So for the next six weeks? Yeah. We live and let live. I need everyone in the family to just back off and not give them hell because I will not do anything to jeopardise this."

"OK, I get that. And you have my word, I'll hold off. Your mom on the other hand—"

"I'll make sure she does."

"For the next six weeks anyway," Lucas added with a laugh.

"Yeah, after that—"

"All bets will be off. Anyway, I kinda want to get back in there so..."

Will waved him back into the room and turned to make the short walk down the hallway towards the restrooms. As he rounded the corner, however, he stopped. "Olivia."

"I was just... I heard you were... and I thought..." She stopped and clasped her hands in front of her. "I wanted to say sorry."

"Sorry," Will repeated.

"I just... Yeah."

"It was a surprise. When Justin told us."

"You surprised me last night," she said. "You gave him up."

"It was the right thing for Alex."

"No," she said, "this is the right thing. JJ... he's a great guy and I love him, so much, he said he'd fight for us. He'd fight and he'd keep fighting and I know he said that because he loves us but that's not what being a parent is about."

"So you did this because of JJ?"

"No. I did this because of Alex. Because he... he's not my son," she forced out. "I mean... I love him," she said, putting a hand on her chest, "but... but I need to do this."

"Right."

"Is Sonny--?"

"I wouldn't," Will said quickly. "Really. Just..."

"No, it's fine. I get it."

"How's JJ?"

"Confused. But he'll understand."

Will just nodded, unsure of what else he could say.

"Anyway, I just—"

"Hey, Ari was asking..." Sonny's voice called out to him, and he stopped when he saw who Will was talking to. Immediately he bristled, taking a deep breath and setting his jaw.

"I wasn't... I mean, this isn't..." Olivia started, stumbling over her words. "I'm sorry. I just, I said I my piece."

"Olivia," Will called out after her, moving over on instinct. "Thank you," he said. They fell into a hug which while it didn't last long, it seemed sincere. "Thank you."

"I'd say be good to him, but I know... Anyway, I'll leave you to it."

Once she'd gone Will turned to Sonny. "You can't do that."

"Will, you—"

"Thirty-nine days," he reminded Sonny. "Your place in his life is sealed, your name is on his birth certificate and no matter what you have rights that you can fight for. I have nothing. I don't have a damn thing until she signs her rights away. So if that means I have to accept her apology and offer hugs then I will do it. I will do _anything_ for the next six weeks to make sure that she doesn't change her mind."

"I'm sorry, I didn't—"

"No, it's OK."

"You're right," Sonny said, letting out a steady breath. "We should... be civil. For now anyway."

"You were saying about Ari?"

"She wants a picture of all of us. And she made me go find you because you'd been gone too long."

"OK, well I'll be back in a bit. I still need to pee," he laughed. "Go tell her I'll be back in a couple of minutes, ready for the photo."

"Our first family photo," Sonny grinned.

"First of many."

Sonny pulled him in for a quick kiss before letting him go, returning to his children.

~~~

Arianna wanted to discuss every detail of what would happen when Alex came home: where will he sleep?; do we have the same last name?; how does our family fit together now because Papa is his daddy and you're my daddy? Will answered all of her questions as honestly as he could until she fell asleep out of exhaustion, her hands wrapped around her favourite teddy bear.

"If her excitement is anything to go by," Will said as he pulled her bedroom door to, "she is going to be the best big sister and—"

He was cut off when Sonny pulled at him, grabbing handfuls of his shirt and bringing him in flush against his body. He laughed but gave into the kiss, letting Sonny take control as they pulled at shirt buttons and flies on jeans, kicking off and stripping off as Sonny herded them towards their bed.

Will was pushed down onto the mattress and Sonny was above him, on top of him, on him, with a deep and passionate kiss that reminded Will of the ones they'd have when they were still just dating, when time together was interspersed with other things, other lives, other people. Before they decided that this separate business wasn't for them and they bound their lives together from top to bottom.

Will's hands, now confident and sure of themselves in a way they weren't back then, found Sonny's waist. His fingers dug softly into the flesh there, the rounding curves that his husband hated but that Will loved. A sign of comfort, Will called them, of contentment. It was no longer about putting on a show for the world, but being who he is without pressure or expectation.

More of him to love.

Pushing and turning, Will flipped them so he could straddle Sonny, his knees either side of Sonny's hips. His hands now moved to hold Sonny's face while Sonny's finger ran down his spine to the curve of his ass, already gently kneading and pulling at the same contented flesh there.

"How do you want me?" Will whispered as he kissed along Sonny's jaw.

"In my life," Sonny replied without a hint of humour.

Will sat up a little, looking down into those dark eyes, and he smiled. "Better not go anywhere then," he said.

"Better not," Sonny grinned, before he turned Will back over. He kissed him once before he kissed his way down Will's chest and core, his hands spreading over Will's hips to hold him down. 

For the first time in too long, Will felt at ease and he knew that Sonny felt the same. The weight was lifted from them and the dreams they had for their family were back and with them, filling up all the cracks that had been made over the last few months.

Clearly while he'd been getting Arianna ready for bed, Sonny had been getting things ready himself, as everything was already on hand. As he heard the tell-tale crinkle of foil he reached out to stop Sonny, taking it from him.

"Let me," he said.

Following Will's lead, Sonny moved to sit near the head of the bed, hands resting on Will's thighs as he slid on the condom with practiced ease. He applied a bit of lube, his fingers brushing up and down the erection as he did so.

"Like this," Will said. "I just... want to be closer."

Sonny consented with a kiss, deep and hard, as Will lifted his hips up to straddle Sonny. The pace was slow and intimate to begin with, finding and rediscovering the other in a way they'd almost lost these last few months.

Will noticed the tears welling in Sonny's eyes before he blinked hard, moving a hand to wipe them away. Will caught the hand, threading their fingers together, pressing palm to palm.

"It's OK," he whispered, kissing Sonny's forehead as he rolled his hips just so.

Sonny's free hand held him at the small of his back, placing pressure to guide the pace. When he started to move it from back to front, Will caught the hand and held it like the other.

"You first," Will said.

"I wanted—"

"You first."

Sonny nodded and stopped holding himself back. He pulled his hands free so he could wrap them around Will's body, but before long his fingers were running up his arms and chest, across his cheeks and into his hair, pulling his head down into the kiss before he groaned into Will's mouth, coming hard and long. He kept coherent thought long enough to grab Will and stroke him through to orgasm.

Pulling Sonny in flush against his chest, Will held him as they both, out of relief and exhaustion and love, started to cry.

~~~

Sonny pulled over the last of the sheets as Will came back into the room, hair damp and mussed, a towel slung low on his hips. He reached out to grab the ends, feigning shock when it dropped to the floor.

"Oh you can preserve your modesty in a bit," Sonny laughed, pulling Will's shower-warm body down onto the bed with him. "For now I just want to enjoy this time we have."

"Before we bring home a baby who is going to wake up every three hours?" Will asked, his fingers tracing lines along the curves of Sonny's chest.

"Before we become boring, old, married parents."

"We are never going to be boring," Will corrected with a laugh.

"If the last few months are anything to go by, probably not!"

"Six weeks' time, Sonny. Six weeks and he's ours."

"He already is."

"You know what I mean," Will said.

"And we can move into the house and get a dog and have Sunday morning coffee on the balcony," Sonny whispered.

Will kissed the tip of his nose before rolling away to grab a pair of sleep shorts. He pulled them on and then climbed into bed, spooning in behind Sonny.

"I remember being so freaked out about being a father," he said. "When Gabi told me, it was... I didn't think I could do it. I didn't know how to do it, how we could do it. And today, with him at the hospital... I don't know how _not_ to be his dad, Sonny."

"Seven years ago I was travelling the world. Never once imagined this life."

"Your mom wanted you to have that life for a long time."

"She kept calling it my dream. More my nightmare now." Sonny's hand found Will's clasped over his stomach and he held onto it. "This. This is my life and everything I want out of it."

"What a coincidence, mine too," Will said, kissing Sonny's shoulder blade. "And I realised something today."

"Yeah?"

"Holding Alex? The way I feel about him? It's the same. It's the same as it was with Ari."

"I know," Sonny said, his voice half asleep already. "They're ours, Will. We have a family."

"Yes we do," Will whispered, placing another kiss on the back of Sonny's neck, before they both drifted off to sleep.


	9. Chapter 9

"OK, do we have everything?" Sonny asked.

Will looked around their room, every surface covered with baby-related equipment. The crib took up most of the spare floor space, a drawer unit surface had been co-opted into a diaper change storage area. They'd cleared out a lot of their own clothes to make room for the multitude of baby clothes that they knew (this time around) that a newborn would need.

"Son, half the stuff from the house is now in our apartment. We have a crib and a change table and half of the baby store. We have newborn diapers and prem diapers, clothes for just about every possible size. Arianna has done him about a million pictures that we are probably going to have to buy a new fridge just to put them all on there.

"In this bag," he said, putting a hand on the oversized satchel on the bed, "we have a choice of _three_ going home outfits, one from each set of grandparents and one that our little girl liked. Four," he corrected, picking up the plastic bag that was beside it, "because this is the one we like. We have a selection of diapers from the range that we have here. There are, I think, at least four pairs of booties and gloves in here because we know that the odd one always goes missing.

"We got smart and told our parents that we could pick Alex up at two, but really we're doing it at half one. This means we have two options: grab him and do a runner, and yes despite everything that is what we're calling it; or we can spend a bit of time with him before everyone else just happens to 'drop by'. We have everything. We're ready."

"Tell me that again," Sonny said with a grin.

"We're ready," Will said, reaching out and grabbing his hand. He pulled him in close and kissed him gently. "We are... so ready for this."

"It's weird, because I know we went through all this with Arianna, but I feel like I have... _no_ idea how to do this," Sonny laughed softly. "This is going to be... so different. It's just you and me, and we have Ari to deal with. We just about managed to get through each day when there were three of us and one of her and now—"

"Hey, hey, hey," Will said. "Where's this coming from?"

"Sorry, I'm being ridiculous, I know," Sonny laughed a little self-deprecatingly. "It's just... I can't believe that we're bringing him home. We're... bringing our son home, Will."

"Yes, yes we are," Will said, kissing him gently. "So let's go get him."

They walked out of their room, Will carrying the bag. Arianna was waiting for them, a piece of paper clutched in her hand.

"That the one?" Sonny asked.

Ari nodded. "It's new."

"Well let's see," Will said.

She turned the page around so they could see as she pointed to them. "That's you, Daddy, Papa, me, and that's Alex. It's my family."

"Yes it is," Sonny grinned. "You ready?"

~~~

Constance took the paperwork back from Will and then hit him with the clipboard. "That's for the flowers," she said. "They're beautiful."

"You've been amazing," Will said, looking over at Sonny who had Alex in his arms. "We couldn't have done this without you."

"You'd have done just fine," she said.

"No, really. You... thank you."

"This from the guy who went toe to toe with me day we met."

"You were keeping Sonny from his little girl."

"Rules are rules," she said. "Kid are with their parents, end of." She nodded in the direction of father and son. "Kids are with their parents."

"You give off this air of being tough but at heart—"

"I'm a roses girl," she smiled.

"Noted," Will laughed. "So, can we take him home? Please?"

"Please?" Ari echoed.

"He's all yours, boys – and yours, honey. You gotta promise to look after your little brother, OK? He's gonna need you to show him what's up."

"I can do that," Ari said, bouncing up and down a little on her feet.

"I bet you can," Constance laughed. "Right, now what's your game plan?"

Sonny glanced up at the clock and sighed.

"Want me to sneak you out the back?" Constance offered.

"God I love you," Will laughed.

"And what would your husband have to say about that?"

"Oh he loves you too," Sonny said, settling Alex in his arms. "And while I would love to sneak out we all know that the short term gains aren't worth it."

"Interference it is then," Will decided. "Stagger the approach?"

Constance laughed and nodded. "You get ten minutes," she said, "then I'll have to start letting them in. We both know what your mother is like when she's kept waiting."

"To be fair she only threatened to buy the hospital _once_ ," Will said. "And you know she'd have kept you on if she did."

"Hopefully with this grandson of hers she'll be a little more distracted. Ten minutes," she reminded them.

"You ready for this?" Will asked Sonny.

"What? Taking him home or the onset of our parents?"

"...Both?" Will laughed. "Now, hand him over."

Sonny laughed and settled Alex into his arms. "I'd forgotten how good it looks."

"What?"

"You. With a baby. It's a good look."

"This season's must-have," Will grinned, stealing a quick kiss. "Twenty one days, Sonny. Three weeks today and... I wanted to say thank you."

"For what?"

"T told me about Jennifer coming into the club the other day."

"That was all kinds of fun," Sonny said.

"I think you were... very restrained."

"Yeah, well," Sonny said, his finger brushing against Alex's cheek, "can't alienate them. Leaving aside that we're related to half the town, T pointed out that every dollar they spend in the club I get to spend raising Alex so it's like they're contributing to his college fund."

"That's one way of looking at it. Have JJ or...?"

"No. Haven't seen either of them. Some people seem to think they've left Salem, but—"

"We're not that lucky," Will said. "So what? They're lying low?"

"Maybe. Don't really care. I will happily have them avoid us for three weeks, then she can sign the papers, we can move, and we don't have to worry about them anymore."

"Sonny—"

"I know, I know. Good thoughts, good comments, I know, I know."

"Three weeks, OK? Three weeks. We can do three weeks. We have waited _so long_ for this, Sonny. Three weeks. For him."

"What?"

"For Alex. For him."

"I thought you were the one who was never going to be able to deny him anything?"

"Him, you, Arianna."

"Good to know we have you whipped."

"What does whipped mean, Papa?" Arianna asked, reminding them of her presence.

They looked at each other then burst out laughing. 

~~~

"I was starting to wonder if you were coming out," Will said.

"Yeah, did that already. Parents were very supportive. You're just jealous."

"Totally," Will said, kissing him. "He go down OK?"

"Yeah. Better than Ari ever did."

"Does that mean we have a child who will actually sleep?"

"Maybe," Sonny said. "They do say kids can be very different creatures."

"How different were you to your brothers?"

"Very," Sonny said. "You?"

"There's a bit of an age gap, so I don't quite know how best to answer that," Will said. "We have an age gap."

"Between us?"

"Ari and Alex."

"Five years. It's not that big."

"We should have done this sooner."

"We should have done so many things sooner," Sonny said, "but they are what they are. Ari in bed?"

"Yeah, she's exhausted."

"Ask me I think we've got a free babysitter in training there."

"Yeah, do you think we can trust a near-five year old with a baby?"

"Yeah," Sonny said, scrunching his nose up, "we could leave a cartoon DVD on repeat, they'd be fine."

"Parent of the year, right here."

"No, we're not leaving him," Sonny said, his tone changing, "ever."

"What?"

"Not until he goes to college, and even then it needs to be commutable distance."

"Are you... are you joking?" Will asked.

"...Mostly," Sonny said. "No, I know. I know, I'm just... protective."

"Protective?"

"Yes, protective."

"I think your mom was protective over you. I know Mom certainly was with me. So very, very protective of me. Every moment of my life, protective."

"I am _not_ Sami."

"No, we established that I'm my mother," Will said. "You are yours."

"Take that back!" Sonny said, horrified at even the suggestion.

"If the shoe fits," Will grinned. "You're the one who's wanting to control every aspect of your son's life. Sounds like Adrienne to me."

"You take that back!" Sonny laughed, hitting him playfully. "I am not my mother."

"I'm not mine."

"Fine. So neither of us are our mothers."

"And we are not going to control every aspect of Alex's life until he's eighteen."

"But—"

"We're not."

"Fine," Sonny sighed.

"Thank you. Because you _know_ that protectiveness is going to extend beyond his eighteenth birthday."

Sonny laughed and grabbed at Will's waist. "But we will do it with love and care and consideration."

"Yes we will. Because we are not our mothers."

~~~

Alex's cry jolted them both awake and within seconds they were out of bed. Sonny picked him up, soothing him with immediate contact while Will, still half-asleep, stumbled out of their room. By the time Sonny had emerged Will had the bottle warming.

"Trade," Will said, reaching out for him, settling him easily against his collar.

Sonny busied himself checking the bottle against his wrist. Finding it to temp he handed it to Will who was already seated by the table. The bottle was offered to Alex and he took it quickly and without further complaint.

"How 'bout that, Alex," Sonny said. "Your dads aren't too bad at this."

"Now," Will corrected. "When your sister was little, man we sucked at night feeds."

"To be fair Gabi did most of them. Seeing as she had it... on tap," Sonny said with a soft laugh.

"We did some," Will protested. "We had night shifts."

"Don't worry, Alex, we're not completely useless. We've managed diaper changes and feeding and bath time so far so I'm guessing we're off to a good start."

"He seems happy enough," Will said, tilting the bottle so he could check how much was still in it. "So do you."

"What?"

"I don't think I've seen you so... happy in... I can't remember."

"I was happy before. With you and Ari."

"I know, but this is... a different kind of happy isn't it? It's just... more. More love, more happy, just... more." Will watched Sonny watching Alex for a moment. "Are you happy?"

"What?"

"Are you happy?"

"This...there are not the words for this," Sonny smiled. "I passed happy a long time ago. But to answer the sentiment, yes. Yes I'm happy."

"Not the life you planned."

"Not the life _you_ planned," Sonny retorted. "Mr Totally Straight Gonna Have A Wife One Day."

"Shut up," he chided quietly.

"Way I see it, no one really plans out what their life is going to be like. We just come up with ideas one day and we like one idea better than another so we work towards that one. And along the way one of three things happen. The first is that the winds are at our backs and we get to where the idea was taking us. The second is that we come up with a new idea and we take ourselves off in that direction. The third, well, that's life basically telling us that our idea is not going to happen and it shoves us down a new route and we need to come up with a new idea." He reached out to hold Alex's foot through the sleepwear. "This is a better idea than anything I could have dreamed of," he said.

"What did you dream of? I mean, what was your idea?"

"Travel, seeing the world. Having a successful business and a really hot guy in my life."

"One out of three isn't bad," Will said.

"No, I got all three. I saw the world and I came back here, started my business and made a life with the hottest guy around."

"Your dad is such a charmer," Will said, looking down at Alex who had almost finished his bottle. "If you take after him you'll be doing just fine." When Alex had finished he put the bottle on the table and moved Alex to his shoulder to burp him. "So what's the new idea?"

"A house, a dog, Sunday morning coffee."

"Sounds like a good idea."

"There's a better one though."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah," Sonny yawned. "Bed."

"Bed sounds great," Will said, smiling as he felt the wind come up. "Think this one's ready for his."

"Like father like son," Sonny said, lifting him off. "Come on then, let's get you settled while daddy clears up."

"You did that on purpose," Will muttered, picking up the bottle and giving it a quick rinse to see it through until morning.

~~~

"So," Sami said, kissing Will's cheek in greeting, "how was the first night?" She looked at Will's eyes and laughed. "Every three hours?"

"Oh no, he does two," Will said. "Every. Two. Hours."

"Oh honey, I'm so sorry."

"Don't be," he said, "wouldn't trade it for the world."

"That I get," she said. "So. Where's my cuddle?"

"Right here, Grammy Sami," Sonny said as he came in, holding Alex. "One fed, changed, clean and happy baby."

"My favourite kind of grandchild," she said. "Gimme." Once she had hold of him she grinned. "Well hello there, little man, it is so very nice to finally meet you. Sorry it took me so long to come and meet you. But now I'm here you are never getting rid of me."

"Don't worry, Alex, we'll protect you as much as we can," Sonny said, hanging over Will's shoulder. "We'll come up with a codeword if you need rescuing."

"A codeword?" Sami asked.

"Yeah, Ari's is vegetables."

"She says that all the time."

"Your point?" Will said, his face breaking out into a grin.

"Whenever you need to escape from these two, you can always come and see me," Sami said to Alex. "I am, after all, somewhat responsible for you—"

"And there it is," Will said. "Pay up, Kiriakis."

"What?" Sami asked as Sonny palmed a ten dollar bill to Will.

"He said you couldn't go ten minutes without bringing up the check. I had a little more faith in you," Sonny explained.

"Hey, I don't care what you think about me," Sami said, "I just care about this little prince. Look at what you guys have."

"Yeah, he is pretty adorable," Sonny grinned. "And we are grateful, you know that."

"I know," she smiled. "And you can say all the things you want about me, make all the jokes you want. I don't care. I really don't care. My boys are happy and they have their boy and I will write checks for... ten times that amount if it makes you happy. If it gives you the life you want, the life you deserve? I will write all the checks."

"Well if that's true, there's a few things we could use—" Sonny grinned.

"Behave," Sami warned. "But seriously, I want to keep him."

"He has that affect on people," Will said.

"No, I didn't mean... that is... I'm not them, you know that?"

"No, Mom, I didn't mean... Sorry."

"Your dad says that they're lying low. Ask me they can do that just as well in Ohio."

"That's where her ex and daughter live," Sonny said.

"Even better. I'd be happy to help with moving costs. Or Nebraska. I hear it's lovely this time of year."

Will laughed. "Wow, Mom. Say what you mean."

"I always do, you know that."

"You know we need to play nice, right? I know you—"

"Your dad already spoke to me," she said. "I can do three weeks. I mean, I make no promises about what happens after that time, but for the next three weeks, yeah, I can place nice."

"You know what? That's actually a more terrifying thought," Sonny said. "Sami Brady—"

"DiMera."

"—playing nice. That's... actually terrifying."

"So long as everyone does what they're supposed to do then there won't be a problem."

"You hear that, Alex?" Will said. "That's your grandmother. And we are so, so sorry."

"Grammy Sami!" Arianna called as she raced out of her room, stopped at the last moment by Will hauling her up onto his hip. 

"Hey there, baby girl," Sami said.

"Not the baby anymore," Ari said. "Alex is the baby."

"Yes he is."

"Coffee?" Sonny offered. "Will and I are having one. Strong ones."

"Sounds good," Sami said, "or I could take the kids for an hour or two? Let you guys get some sleep?"

"No, Mom, thank you but it's fine," Will said. "Just... not yet, OK?"

"Yeah, sure, I get it," she said.

"Get what?" Arianna asked.

"Your daddies just want to spend some time with you and Alex, that's all. And so it means that for the moment I need to wait my turn."

"I still get to ride my pony though?" Ari asked.

"Your what?"

"I has a pony," Ari declared.

"Not our idea," Will said quickly.

"No, this has Grandmother Adrienne written all over it."

"Mom," Will warned.

"And actually it was Uncle Vic," Sonny explained. "Him and his Kiriakis heirs."

"He must be thrilled about Alex," Sami said.

"He talked about opening a college fund which, and I quote, can be 'used for whatever takes his fancy'. I'm scared to look at the opening balance."

"Please don't take this as competition," Will pleaded. "It was bad enough when everyone was doing it over Arianna and we really don't have the energy to go through all that again with a newborn and a five-year old."

"I'll be good, I promise," Sami said.

"No trust funds, no houses, no cars."

"I don't need to," Sami said. "I've done my part."

"Oh god," Will muttered as he peeled away and headed over to the kitchen in search of coffee. "She is going to do this for his entire life, isn't she?"

"Three weeks," Sonny said, putting an arm around Will's waist and his head on his shoulder. "Three weeks and we'll be miles away."

"Yeah, but we have to survive those three weeks."

"We'll distract her with grandchildren, it'll be fine. We'll make lots of coffee, we'll give her lots of grandbaby cuddles, it'll be fine. We can distract your mom for three weeks."

"I hope so," Will sighed, glancing over at them. "If nothing else our son is going to make the rich list before his first birthday."

~~~

Marlena smiled and held out her arms for a hug which Will gave without hesitation.

"How's the cabin fever?" she asked.

"It's... manageable," Will said.

"You know it is a beautiful day out there. We could take the kids for a walk and you can talk to me about how different it is with two children and I'll just smile and pretend like it's all new."

"I would love that, I really would, but Alex is asleep and Sonny's taking the chance to get a few himself."

"I can wait. We'll all go when the boys wake up."

"Grandma—"

"You need to get out of the house," she said. "This isn't good for you, staying cooped up."

"It's easier than fighting."

"Oh, honey..."

"I get it, I do," Will said as he closed the door behind Marlena. "He's just so nervous about losing Alex, we both are."

"You think they'll do something?"

"No," Will said. "I mean, no one's heard from them or seen them in weeks and—what was that look?"

"What look? There was no look. I don't know what you mean. Now. What does a girl have to do to get a coffee?"

"Tell me the truth," Will said.

"I can't."

"What do you mean you can't?"

"Will... I... _can't_."

"I... what? Confidentiality? Why would you... are you... Are you serious?"

"Will—"

"After what she did to us you're seeing her? There are other people she can see, you can recommend a list a mile long!"

"She asked for me."

"So you say no!"

"Will—"

"She tried to take my son from us, Grandma. She did that. She lied and then changed her mind and we went through hell because of it."

"Honey, sit down," Marlena said. "I know this is tough, but you know she needs help. You know that."

"But why you?"

"Because she asked for me."

"But—"

"Will, she's reaching out. She's asking for help and that's a good thing."

"Grandma—"

"That's a good thing," she repeated. "I know this is hard, I really do," she said reaching out to touch his cheek. "And I know how much she's hurt you. But this is a good thing."

"Am I wrong for hoping that she'd just... gone? Does that make me a bad person?"

"No," Marlena said with a smile. "Makes you human."

"I just... I don't want her in our lives. Neither of us do. Sonny, he... He won't let Alex out of his sight unless he knows that he's with me. We are counting down the days until Olivia can sign him over and we don't want to think about what'll happen if she doesn't but we also can't stop thinking about it.

"And it's just... You have no idea what it's like. We're in there, every night with him. I catch Sonny, watching him sleep. He says that he's just making sure he's still breathing, new parent stuff like that. But I know, I know because I feel the same. We've had him here for just a few days, Grandma, and the idea of him not being here? It was easier to give him up when he wasn't in our lives. But he is and we can't lose him."

"You won't," Marlena said, covering his hands with hers. "He's yours, Will."

"Not for a few more weeks he's not. He only feels like it."

Marlena raised an eyebrow, the comment unspoken.

"You know what I mean, Grandma. We are living on... one moment to the next and we are so scared that each one is going to be our last with him."

"Then isn't it a good thing that she's getting help? Help that she should have gotten a long time ago?"

"I don't..."

"Sometimes we make bad decisions, and we have to live with the consequences of those decisions. But we need to learn from our mistakes."

"This was... a big mistake."

"What, like you haven't made them?"

"Not like this, Grandma."

"OK, so there are different levels of big mistakes, just ask your mom."

"I just... She can't take him, Grandma. She can't."

"Oh Will..." She stopped and brushed back his hair for a second. "I have watched you come through some... very big struggles. More than most people your age have to deal with. This last year? I'm gonna say it. This has been the worst one of your life."

"Yeah, that's one way of looking at it," Will said with a small laugh.

"But here you are. You and Sonny, you've gone from strength to strength. Things like this have beaten many couples and never once have you let it get to you. I know you've had your problems but you continued to provide a good home for your daughter and you are providing that for your son.

"But it's not all about the home you provide, it's about the people you fill it with. You and Sonny, you need to make sure that you're not locking yourselves in your apartment—"

"And there's the reason for you coming over," Will said.

"Babies need fresh air. Their daddies need some fresh air. And while your coffee is not bad it isn't a patch on what's on offer at Sonny's club. So, how about we bundle that little bundle of yours up and we go for a walk?"

"He's asleep."

"I can wait."

"Of course you can," Will said.

"Look, you know my hands are tied when it comes to Olivia. But really... It'll be OK."

"Tell Sonny that," Will said as he got up to make them a drink.

"You know me, I will," she said quietly to herself.

~~~

Sonny had learned very early on that you couldn't argue with Marlena when her mind was made up. And it was made up that she was taking her great-grandbabies out for a walk and their daddies were coming to. So Alex was bundled up into his stroller, and Ari pulled on her new sun hat and wellies. Marlena took the handles of the stroller and expertly manoeuvred it out of the apartment, Ari bouncing excitedly alongside them telling Alex about all the things they were going to see at the park.

"It's gonna be fine," Will said, taking Sonny's hand.

"What if—"

"It will be fine," Will said. "It's just a walk. In public. With everyone."

"Yeah, but—"

"We can't hide away, Sonny. We can't lock ourselves up until she signs that paperwork. We talked about making their lives normal and that means... letting my grandmother railroad us into taking walks in the park," he added with a laugh.

"I know I'm being unreasonable, I know it. I hear myself say that we're OK staying in, or making sure that one of us is with him."

"I get it. I do."

"Ask me, I think this is some informal counselling."

"What?"

"One week in seclusion and your grandmother shows up and hauls us out of our home. Think she's trying to get me on her books?"

"Do you want... do you want to talk to her? Someone?"

"No, I just... I just need to get out more."

"It is a beautiful day."

A little ahead of them Marlena called to Ari, telling her not to run off. Will gave Sonny's hand a gentle squeeze and pulled him in closer.

"I love you," Sonny said.

"Love you too."

"And... I will get better at this. Look, Alex isn't with either of us and I'm not freaking out."

"Say that again when they go 'round the corner and they're out of sight," Will laughed.

"Yeah, we should probably catch up to them," Sonny quipped, picking up his pace and pulling Will along with him.

~~~

"So, how's things?" Marlena asked as she sat beside Sonny.

"While I admire your approach, we both know where this is going so—"

"This, this is why I like you," she smiled, "you get straight to the point."

"We have that in common."

"That, and we both love Will to pieces."

"That too," he smiled.

"Do you think hiding away is going to protect you? And Alex?"

"It gives me control, or at least the illusion of it," Sonny said. "If he's at home then I know who he's with, where he's at. Me and Will, we are both scared of losing him so if he's with us... And I know that's not healthy, that other people need to be a part of Alex's life."

"But you're trying to control that."

"I tell myself that it's only until the paperwork is signed. Because after that if they try anything then they don't have a leg to stand on."

"The problem with that is that habits form in less time."

"And unless I do something now I won't change even after the papers are signed."

"So if you recognise the destructive behaviour, and you have the desire to change," Marlena said, "then the next step is to make the change."

"You make it sound so easy."

"Oh but it is," Marlena laughed. "We can all make changes like... like that," she said with a snap of her fingers.

"What if I get it wrong?"

"What if you're getting it wrong now?"

"My choices doesn't end up with him—"

"Sonny," she said firmly.

"I think it would be easier if I knew where they were, what they were doing. If they were around, which I know seems weird, but I feel like they're just... out there. Waiting."

"Or staying out of the way," Marlena offered.

"I know that makes sense," Sonny said, "and I'll be honest, wherever they are they can stay there. When I think back over... everything... He's my _cousin_ , Marlena. And there are so many memories I have of the two of us, boys together and all that. When he came back and there was all that drama... I wanted to be there for him. Supporting him, it was second nature to me because he's not only family but he's a friend too.

"I didn't think twice about it, Marlena. You're there for those you care about, you stand by them and you support them. He was there at my wedding, he helped around the club when Will and I were spending our entire lives at the hospital with Arianna, when Gabi went away. I don't get how he can go from that, to this.

"And it's not the relationship with Olivia. When they told us, when it all came out? We were thrown, I was thrown by it but then I thought about it and even though it meant that she would be in our lives, be a part of Alex's life? I was OK with that because he's my cousin and I wanted him to be happy."

"Wanted," Marlena commented on.

"Yeah. Past tense. I know. Been doing that a lot. Because... because it doesn't matter anymore. Time was I'd have given anything to help him out and then he turns around and betrays us because he—"

"Loves her," Marlena finished. "People do crazy things for those that they love."

"I know that," Sonny said, "but that's not the point here. He betrayed us. He tried to take my son from me, he supported the woman who wanted to do that. And I have my mom who is ready to cut ties with Jennifer the second I give her the OK, and there's Lucas who really wants to be there for us but this is his sister and his sister's children."

"You are not responsible for the actions of anyone else."

"It's not about what they do, it's about what I do."

"I don't understand," Marlena said.

"I could cut JJ out of my life and no one would complain, no one would question it. Half of Salem would support me if I decided that. You want to know why I've not banned the Deverauxs from the club? It's because that's a rift you can't fix. That would be a split that no amount of time could fix."

"Do you want to fix it?"

"No," he said firmly and quickly. "No, I... I can't. I know it would make things easier for everyone and I know that it would stop this huge... split down the middle of the town, but I can't. I can't bring myself to even think about letting him back into my life, into our lives."

"I can understand that—"

"Good, then can you explain it to me? Because this is not me. I hear people call me 'Saint Sonny' and I used to smile and laugh it off because they were right. I got it. That was my thing, the good guy. If I was going to be someone then... that wasn't a bad thing to be.

"But I can't be him. I can't."

"You don't have to be anyone you don't want to be," Marlena said. "You have new priorities."

"And it has to be about them," Sonny said, gesturing over to where Will was playing with Arianna next to Alex's stroller.

"You know how I feel about family," Marlena said, "but you need to think about you in all of this too. Alex needs a daddy who isn't—"

"A nervous wreck?" Sonny finished. "Obsessive? Looking over his shoulder every time he hears someone coming up and can't leave Alex for more than five seconds because I have this stupid idea that they're going to snatch him. I hear myself and I know that I'm being unreasonable but... but maybe when he's ours things will be different. Maybe they won't be but I just need to keep focused on that. On how we have just a few more weeks and then we can move to our house and just get on with our lives."

"And then all of this goes magically away?"

"Maybe, that happens, right?" Sonny joked.

"Seems to me that you have a decision to make. You can choose to move on, or you can choose to hang on to this."

"Is there a third option?"

"What did you have in mind?"

"I can't forgive him. But... but I can choose not to let it run my life."

"That can work," Marlena said, "but things like this can eat away at you if you let them."

"So I don't let it," Sonny said. "We both know Will, we both know that he won't let me carry this around, especially if it starts affecting the kids."

"He didn't ask me to speak to you."

"I know, but he would have."

"I know," she smiled.

"I heard you. Earlier, in the apartment. You're seeing her. Isn't there some conflict in you talking to me too?"

"This isn't exactly formal. This is me, having a conversation with my grandson-in-law."

"Well, you... provide excellent conversation," Sonny said. "Thank you."

"Any time."

"Professional conflict permitting?"

She reached out and put her hand over his. "Any time."

~~~

"And that's me," Sonny said, closing the order book. "Done and done."

"Hey, remember when the boss used to stick around of an evening?" T joked.

"Hey, remember when I didn't like you?" Sonny retorted.

"Yeah, but now you love me and you love that I'm running this place for you while you and Will play new daddies. So much so that you're seriously thinking about letting me take over when you up sticks to the 'burbs."

"Am I now?" Sonny asked.

"C'mon, man, who knows this place better than you? Who knows all the suppliers and all the ways to get the deals we want?"

"Who let himself get talked into getting an extra three cases of crème de menthe?"

"Who came up with the _best_ theme night to get rid of it all, bringing in some of the best profits that this place has ever seen?" he countered. "C'mon, Sonny, throw me a bone here. What's your plan?"

"My plan? My plan is to go home to my husband and my children and to let you close up."

"Yeah, fine, OK," T said, turning back to the bar and starting to wipe it down.

Sonny watched him for a moment, getting that whole 'kicked puppy' vibe from him. "Come in tomorrow morning."

"It's my day off."

"Yeah, and it's quiet enough that I'll be able to go through everything with you. Not that you don't know it, but I'll feel better knowing that the club is being left with someone who I know can take care of it."

"Are you serious?"

"You'll answer to the overall club manager, you get that, right?"

"I don't care," T said, pulling Sonny into a hug. "So, um... what's the pay hike on that like?"

"Don't make me change my mind."

"You wouldn't. I'm the best thing to happen to this club and you know it. Best thing to happen to you." He pulled back and shrugged. "After Will. And the kids."

"Yeah, not so high up that list are you?" Sonny laughed.

"I promise I won't let you down, boss. I'll keep the flagship flying for you."

"That's not what a flagship is, I-- Never mind."

"What?"

"Never mind. I'm going home. I'll see you tomorrow."

"You got it, boss!" T said, giving a quick salute. When Sonny had gone he looked around the club and grinned. "Hell yeah. This is gonna be great, this is gonna be epic. I'm gonna be the best thing that happened to this club, I—"

"—am going to change my mind," Sonny said, making T jump. "Forgot my file," he said. "And it's not _Club T_ , don't be getting ideas."

"Oh I got ideas, boss, I got plenty of them. Some of them even crème de menthe good."

"I'm... going home," Sonny said, grabbing the folder and leaving before he did change his mind.

~~~

He stopped as soon as he had the door open, leaning against the frame and just... watching. He'd never had the chance to see this in action with Arianna, but Will had. He used to say it was his favourite sight and now Sonny was beginning to understand why.

Will was lying supine on the couch, Alex on his chest. Both were dead to the world, Alex was even snoring softly. The apartment was littered with evidence of a busy night: dinner plates had been moved to the side but not fully cleared away; one of Ari's towels had been dropped just outside the bathroom (probably by the young lady herself); and various rattle toys, bottles and pacifiers were within reach, none of which looked fully used.

As Sonny shut the door as carefully as he could Will stirred.

"Hey, go back to sleep," Sonny hushed.

"What time is it?"

"Little after nine. How long has he been down?"

"An hour or so," Will said, his hand brushing the fine, dark hair on Alex's head. "He really fights it."

"I know, sorry I wasn't here."

"You had to work, we get it."

"I should be here."

"Son—"

"T's gonna take over the club."

Will laughed as softly as he could without jostling Alex too much. "How'd he talk you into that?"

"Caught me at a weak moment," Sonny said, leaning over Will and kissing him gently. "Let me—"

"No, he's fine."

"Will—"

"We're bonding. Leave him."

"Bonding?" Sonny asked, kneeling beside the couch. 

"Yeah, daddy-son bonding time."

"How's that going?"

"It's exhausting and... great."

"Yeah, it is, isn't it?" Sonny grinned, slipping his finger into Alex's fist. "I booked the movers today."

"Yeah?"

"Gave notice on this place."

"Sonny—"

"I know, I know, but everyone's telling us to be positive, even your grandmother who comes in every morning to get her coffee, a full ten minutes out of her way, just so she can smile at me. I like to think it's her way of reassuring me that everything's OK." He bent down to kiss Alex's hand. "JJ came in today."

"Sonny—" Will started causing Alex to stir in protest. Sonny hushed him back to sleep, covering him with the blanket they used in his crib. "Sonny, what happened?"

"Nothing," Sonny said. "T saw him first, intervened and suggested that it wasn't the right time. Not sure when he thinks the right time will be, but he got that part right."

"Why today?"

"I have no idea, I don't really care either," Sonny said. "He can do what he wants when we're gone."

"Mom keeps asking when she can buy us a housewarming gift. She's also mentioned the word 'party' more than once."

"Can you imagine?" Sonny laughed. "Isn't the whole point of us moving to get away from... well...?"

"My mom?" Will finished. "We're both thinking it."

"It's not that I don't like her. Love her even."

"You'll just like and love her more when we're the best part of an hour's drive away?"

"Won't you?"

"This isn't about me," Will grinned, side-stepping it. "Anything else needs doing?"

"Yeah. He needs passing over," Sonny said. "I should get my boys into bed."

"Bed. That... sounds good," Will said. "That sounds awesome."

"Yeah, it does," Sonny said, wrapping Alex up in the blanket and lifting him up to his chest. "Go sort yourself out."

"Sort myself out?" Will asked as he sat up. "What? You saying I don't look good?"

"You look very handsome," Sonny said as Will stood up before kissing him gently. "As you always do."

"Nice save, Kiriakis. Smooth. Very smooth."

"I thought so too. Take notes, my boy," Sonny said, "this is how we get what we want."

"Not so smooth, Kiriakis," Will laughed.

~~~

"You sure about this, Dad?"

Lucas laughed, putting one hand on the stroller. "I'm not completely useless when it comes to babies, you know."

"Yeah, but—"

"I know, I know," he said. "It's OK."

"Sorry."

"Don't be," Lucas said. "I get it, I do. We're just gonna go for a walk around the park, meet your great-grandma Kate for coffee – she's going to get him started on lattes to begin with – and we'll be back before dinnertime. Grammy Sami is picking Ari up, you guys... spend time together." He waved his hand towards him and Sonny with a grin. "It's important for new parents."

"Not exactly new at this," Sonny said.

"Oh baby number two, that's a whole other ball game. You can't just spend hours watching their every move, you got another walkin' around. You can't nap when baby is as the other one retunes the TV or decides to body slam the dog."

"We don't have a dog," Will said.

"Not yet. But that house is just cryin' out for one. All set for the move?"

"Getting there," Sonny said. "Just waiting for... a few things."

"Few things. Like adoption papers?" When Will failed to hide his grin Lucas laughed. "Single figure days. Gettin' real for you guys?"

"Trying very hard not to think about it," Will said. "So much can happen in a week."

"You made it this far," Lucas said, "home stretch now. So we're gonna go stretch our legs, I'm gonna spend some time getting to know my grandson, and you two are... probably gonna be asleep two minutes after we're gone, right?"

"Oh, you think we're going to last that long?" Will laughed.

"Yeah, well, gimme that diaper bag and get some shut eye. We'll see you guys later."

"Thanks again!" Sonny called out as Lucas left with the stroller. "Right," he said, grabbing Will's hand. "Come on you."

"So desperate to get me into bed," Will laughed. "Where's the romance? Where's the effort?"

"Nope, once I married you it meant I didn't need to put in that much effort."

"And you just expect to get into my pants?" Will quipped as Sonny pulled him down onto the bed.

"Too much effort," Sonny sighed, settling on the bed and throwing out his arm in invitation. "Come nap with me."

"You know _exactly_ the way to my heart," Will said, crawling in next to Sonny and curling in to his shoulder.

"Yeah I do," Sonny said. "This... this is some old married shit, isn't it? Sleeping together."

"Don't care," Will hummed. "This is awesome shit."

"Yeah it is."

~~~

"Well, that's your great-grandma Kate for you," Lucas said as he hung up the phone. "Fair warning, she'll spend a lot of time doing business and then she'll rock up with excuses and probably some present while you're young enough to be bribed." He peered into the stroller. "Maybe best you're not quite aware of what's going on." He checked his watch and sighed. "Well, with any luck your dads are still asleep because you certainly won't be tonight. What's up with that, huh? Your grandma Adrienne says you take after your dad. Papa. What are you calling him anyway? How's that work? Like is he going to be dad for you and my boy will be papa?

"Man, they're just labels, right? Your sister still calls me Luca even though she can do the s sound now. Some stuff just sticks. You got a good thing going on, Alex. You have no idea how good but you will. I seen a few kids brought into this world, had the joy of being dad to some of them, but I don't think I have ever seen a kid so wanted as you.

"I know they're going to give you the best life a kid could have. You and your sister? If anyone tries telling you two guys can't raise a family then I'll tell them – oh shit."

He looked up, his hand tightening on the handle of the stroller as he saw who had just entered the square.

"Oh they are going to kill me," Lucas muttered when they caught sight of him and he knew he had no chance of escape.

JJ and Olivia seemed hesitant but their eyes were fixed on the stroller. Lucas was relieved that he was turned away from them but he knew that wasn't about to dissuade them. He turned his attention to Jennifer.

"This is not a good idea," Lucas said, pulling the stroller a little closer to him. "You have to know that."

"We're in public, Lucas," Jennifer said. "They don't own the square."

"Jen, come on."

"How... how is he?" Olivia asked.

"He's good," Lucas said. "Barely sleeping, but... good."

Olivia nodded, still staring at the back of the stroller.

"Can we—" JJ started.

"Are you serious?" Lucas asked. "You really think I'm gonna be OK with that?"

"They're not here," JJ pointed out. "You don't know how hard it's been—"

"I know how hard it'll be to look my boys in the eye and tell them—"

"So don't tell them," JJ said. "Please."

"I—"

"I just wanna say goodbye," Olivia said quietly. "I didn't really get the chance before. I just... handed him back to the nurse and told them not to bring him back. I just... want to say goodbye."

"Olivia—"

"You can watch the whole time," Jennifer said, "we won't even get him out of the stroller."

"They'll kill me," Lucas muttered.

"Please," Olivia whispered. "Just... two minutes. If he's asleep we won't wake him."

"He's... he's awake. But he stays in the stroller."

"Thank you, thank you," Olivia said. She waited until Lucas turned the stroller around so they could see him before crowding around him.

"This is a good thing you're doing, Lucas," Jennifer said

"Yeah, if it's so good why do I feel so crappy about it?"

"I know, you feel torn. I get that," she said, looking at JJ and Olivia. "They're... I think they're actually going to come through it."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah."

"Well that's something."

" This is... this will be good for them," Jennifer said. "Closure."

"That's what I'm hoping, that way I can sell it to the boys before they kill me."

"They won't kill you," Jennifer said.

"Yeah, not what the looks on their faces say," Lucas said, gesturing across the square to where Will and Sonny were. "Just... stay here. They don't move, OK?"

"OK," Jennifer said.

"Guys, this is—" Lucas said as he crossed over to them.

"What the hell, Dad?" Will said.

"You need to listen to me," Lucas said, putting out his hands to stop Sonny running over there.

"We _trusted_ you," Sonny snapped.

"They're just saying goodbye," Lucas said, pushing against Sonny. "Let them. Five minutes."

"I don't want them _near_ my son."

"I know, I know," Lucas said, "but hear me out for two minutes. Two minutes, that's all. They just want to say goodbye, that's it. Final stages of letting go. Next week she signs him over and—"

"You don't know that," Sonny snapped. "What if she—"

"What if she doesn't?" Lucas cut across. "What if she never gets closure but signs those forms next week anyway? That stuff sits, that kind of regret? That breeds. That sits and breeds and rots and is the kind of thing that leads to people doing crazy, stupid things like all the stuff you're terrified of. 

"And I know you're worried about it, I get that. Of course I do. But look around you, Sonny. Look at this place. We are out in public, there are too many people around. And trust me, while you can make a good pace with that buggy they won't outrun any of us. And we can stand here and talk about rights, but we both know they signed that form and Justin is a damn good lawyer.

"They got two minutes, Alex stays in the stroller. They say goodbye, Sonny. They need to say goodbye. They need to let him go and you know that."

"Dad—"

"No, I'm serious about this, Will. I don't like it either, and I'm with Sonny on this – I don't want them near him. But tell me this: are two minutes worth having them out of his life for good?"

"He has a point, Son," Will said, taking hold of Sonny's arm. "Sometimes you need to... let go."

"This is _not_ the same," Sonny spat, pushing against Lucas.

"Sonny, Son, hey," Will said, moving so he was standing between him and Lucas. "Look at me, look at me. Two minutes. One minute now. Then we're done."

"What if they're not? What if this just—"

"Stop it, stop it, stop it," Will said. "You need to _stop_ ," he said with a final push. "It's happening. They get their two minutes, we get the rest of his life."

"Will—"

"Enough," Will said, shoving him hard. "Enough now."

Sonny caught Will's gaze and held it for one beat, two. Then he purposefully raised his voice. "Time's up." He pushed past Will and Lucas, walking over to the stroller. "Two minutes."

"He's beautiful," Olivia said, backing up against JJ who put his hands reassuringly on her shoulders. "He's... doing really well."

"Of course he is," Sonny snapped.

"I didn't mean... I just... I'm not changing my mind, I'm not," she said. "I swear I just... I just wanted to say goodbye. Thank you for that."

Sonny didn't say anything, just put his hand on the handle of the stroller.

"Sonny—" JJ said.

"Let me pass," he said firmly.

"Son—"

"Either let me pass or I'll run you down, you know I will."

JJ pulled Olivia to one side to let Sonny by, wrapping his arms around her waist. "It's OK. It's OK."

"No, it's not," she whispered, putting her hands over his. "I just... I needed that."

"See? Told you something good would come of getting out of the house. You know what Doctor Evans said."

"I know, I know," she said. When Will started towards them she looked up. "Will, I—"

"If you ever, _ever_ pull a stunt like that again? I won't stop him, you hear me?" he said, his voice low and quiet. "I won't hold him back and I won't stop him. You even try and see him again? I won't be held responsible for my actions, understand?"

"That's not—" JJ said.

"It's fine, I get it," Olivia said. "I get it. I just... I just wanted to say goodbye to him, Will. That's all. Closure. Nothing's changed, I promise you."

"You said that before," Will challenged. "You said that everything was going to be just fine and we ended up in _court_. Forgive me if I don't take you on your word."

He left to catch up with Sonny, and Lucas held up his hands in surrender. "I'm on their side," he said. "That was a really shitty situation you put me in."

"I'm sorry," Jennifer said, "it wasn't like we planned it. We saw you and—"

"I really don't care, Jen," Lucas said. "I really, really don't care."

~~~

"I know, I know," Sonny whispered to Will as he joined him in the kitchen.

Will glanced over his shoulder at where Ari was busy colouring in a picture for her visit with her mom the next day. "What?"

"Olivia. I shouldn't have gone off at her like that. One more week. I just... I lost it. Seeing her with him, I just kept thinking—"

"It's OK."

"No, it's not. If she—"

"It's OK," Will said. "She said she hadn't changed her mind, that things were still going as planned. And... and I might have made a comment about her changing her mind before."

"You did what?" Sonny asked.

"I can't get mad at you as I did the same thing."

"We are as bad as each other," Sonny laughed softly, giving him a gentle shove.

"We deserve each other."

"Yeah we do." Sonny leaned over and kissed him gently. "So. She said she's not changing her mind?"

"Yeah, in front of witnesses. So I guess with that and the paperwork she's already signed your dad can make a good case if she does."

"Is that working?"

"What?"

"Telling yourself that so you don't keep thinking that you screwed up?"

Will laughed softly. "It's... helping. A little."

"When did we get like this?" Sonny asked. "Jumping at every little thing, second-guessing our actions, what we say, what we do? All because we're scared?"

"Not scared... cautious."

"This isn't me, Will. This isn't us."

"One more week, Son. We can get back to us in a week."

"What if we don't? What if we... What if this never goes away?"

"What?"

"Just... something your grandmother said. Or what I said. What we said, it's a bit of a blur really. Habits and that."

"Son..."

"It's... I can't explain it. It's like... regular Sonny, the one who's calm and rational and never rises when provoked? He just side steps and this whole other guy comes in. One who just sees red and won't listen to reason. I see her with him, near him, and it's like... You know, I understand The Hulk a lot more."

Will gave a soft laugh and shook his head. He turned so he was leaning against the counter and watching Arianna. "When Nick was still sniffing around her? What was that like?"

"What?"

"Red mist? Shouting? All that?"

"Yeah, but he was..." Sonny stopped and gave a small smile. "He was trying to take her from us."

"And why were you getting so mad?"

"Because she's my family."

"Oh good, the short route. Makes this easier. Arianna has been your daughter since the second she was in your arms. You have loved her and protected her and never second guessed any of your actions, so why now? This is your son, this is our son, and after everything that we have been through I think we have earned the right to... kick off every so often.

"Arianna is family and we fought for her. The odds were against us, Nick had some... serious information on us, but we still fought and we never once apologised for it. So let's not start with Alex, OK?"

"Things are... fragile right now."

"Maybe on paper. But look at our home, Sonny. OK, so it's a little sparse right now because we're packing next week, but look at it." Will dropped his voice so as not to distract Arianna. "This is the front cover of Home Weekly or something. Our daughter at the table, doing a picture for her convict mom. Our son, born via surrogacy, down for his nap in our room while his married gay dads make dinner like the stereotypical pros that they are when it comes to food art."

"It's pasta," Sonny pointed out.

"Shut up, you're ruining the fantasy."

"I'm sorry, please continue."

"So the gay dads, right? They're young and handsome and rather embarrassingly still in love. And since they've missed a fair few party opportunities they are starting to turn their sights to a _fabulous_ summer do in their new home," he said, complete with a wave of his hand. "I'm serious, Son. Four years of marriage, Ari's fifth birthday, we let them just slide by with dinner and a cake like we shouldn't be celebrating each and every one. We are going to be like something out of those magazines with garden parties and a BBQ and punch and salad bowls that no one touches."

"And bunting," Sonny grinned, "lots of bunting."

"Oh goes without saying."

"Rainbow bunting?"

"And pink _everything_."

"Oh my god, my husband is totally _gay_ ," Sonny laughed.

"And you love it," Will laughed.

"Yeah, I do."

"Know what else I love?"

"I can guess."

"Your laugh," Will said, giving him a gentle shove. "Nice to hear it."

Sonny shook his head before leaning over and kissing Will gently. "What happened to the nervous boy I first met when I moved back to Salem?"

"He grew up, found himself, became a husband and a father, twice over, a successful writer and thinks he's doing pretty well at this adult business for someone who's not yet thirty."

"He's doing very well," Sonny said before kissing him again.

"Look Daddy, Papa," Arianna called, holding up the picture for them to see.

"That's great, sweetpea," Sonny said, turning so he was facing her. "What is it?" he then whispered to Will.

"No idea, just smile and go with the compliments," Will whispered back under a laugh.

"Do you like it, Daddy?"

"I love it, baby. Your mom will too."

"It looks like a giraffe," Sonny whispered. "But she's never seen one except on TV."

"Last time you thought that she'd drawn one it turned out to be EJ."

"He is... very tall," Sonny laughed.

"This is mean, right? Critiquing a five-year old's drawing skills?"

"Yep. We're going to hell."

"Thought we already were 'cause of the gay thing," Will said.

"Dork," Sonny laughed, lopping an arm around Will's shoulders and pulling him in for a longer kiss.

As the timer went off signalling the pasta was cooked, Alex woke from his nap and started wailing. Will and Sonny did a quick game of rock-paper-scissors to see who did what, when Will threw a rock to Sonny's paper he sighed and headed for the bedroom.

"You always win, Papa," Arianna said, now hanging over the back of the couch.

"I know, and get down from there," Sonny said, turning off the heat under the pasta.

"Why do you always win?"

"Because your daddy has a pattern," Sonny grinned, tapping the side of his nose. "But don't tell him."

"Only keep secrets in the family," she nodded, climbing down off the couch.

"Go wash your hands," Sonny said, "then you can help me set the table for—" He stopped when Ari walked over to him and threw her arms around his legs. She held on for a second before tilting her head back and puckering her lips for a kiss. Sonny bent down and picked her up, kissing her gently before setting her back down. "What was that for?"

"I just love you, Papa," she said, "and you kiss the people you love," she added before heading off towards the bathroom.

"Love you too, sweetpea," he said quietly to himself, looking over to the bedroom doorway where Will was now standing with Alex in his arms.

They didn't speak a word, they didn't have to, they just smiled at each other in a way that said everything for them.

~~~

When Sonny rolled over in bed he was unsurprised to find Will still awake. He curled himself into Will's side, shifting to allow him to put his arm out and around him. They lay there, side by side, for moment, their breathing falling into sync.

"I wasn't this nervous before our wedding," Will said quietly.

"I was."

"Really?"

"...Maybe not _this_ kind of nervous," Sonny said, his fingers drawing patters on the fabric covering Will's chest. "But still nervous."

"Why? You knew I'd turn up."

"It wasn't that," he said, "it was... Just everything."

"Everything?"

"Everything. Nervous about forgetting what I was supposed to say, nervous about forgetting the rings. About whether or not I'd be a good husband—"

"You're the best," Will said, kissing the top of Sonny's head.

"—whether or not we'd actually make it."

"What?"

"What's the current divorce rate? Fifty percent? More? My parents have been divorced and remarried, and I don't even know where to begin with yours."

"True."

"And the idea that we wouldn't..."

"We were good then, Son. We're better now."

"I know. Stupid nerves."

"It's not stupid."

"I was nervous about my role in Arianna's life."

"OK, so that bit was stupid," Will laughed.

"This was before the paperwork, before... everything. And in some way it felt like that my whole family could be taken away from me at a moment's notice. Like my hold on this, on her, was only because of you. And in some way it felt like once we were married? It would be harder to lose her."

"You were never going to lose her. I thought you knew that?"

"I knew. Same as you knew that I wanted to be with you but you still had doubts about Brian—"

"That was a long time ago," Will protested.

"The point is, there was this doubt, this fear, this little speck of something right at the back of my mind which reminded me that she wasn't mine, but she was mine to lose. And so I was nervous before the wedding because... that was a tie being made, something that was real and that I could fight for. Then things... went the way that they did.

"I wasn't expecting the papers, but being told that what I felt was validated? That she is my daughter? I still don't think, even after this time, that you two realise what that meant to me."

"Son—"

"Well, I don't think you did then, but now... tomorrow? This is your paperwork."

"Well, not _this_ ," Will laughed, "it's what comes after this. Your dad was very clear about that, she signs over her rights, the formal adoption procedure starts, and then six months later—"

"Hey, hey, don't do that," Sonny said, sitting up a little. "This is the start. Tomorrow she relinquishes her rights and we start to work on ours."

"Tomorrow."

"Tomorrow," Sonny grinned, kissing him gently by the corner of his mouth. He settled back down into the curve of Will's shoulder and they went back to pretending to sleep.

~~~

"I know why we're here," Ari declared as Sonny helped Will manoeuvre the stroller towards the door. "I heard you talking."

"Yeah?" Sonny asked.

"Grandpa Justin has baby papers."

"Something like that," he said, reaching out and grabbing her hand as she wandered in front of the stroller. "It's boring, grown up stuff."

"But it's to do with Alex," she said, standing to the side of the stroller and reaching in to take his hand. "I wanna know."

"She wants to know, papa," Will said as Sonny rang the bell.

"Well, if she wants to know," Sonny said just as the door opened, revealing Justin behind it. "What? Henderson getting the day off?"

"No, just knew it was my favourite little family," he said, laughing as Ari wrapped herself around his leg. He put a hand on her head and smiled. "Come on in, we can go through everything in the office—"

"Ari wants to know," Sonny told him.

"He's my baby too," she said up to him from his leg. "I wanna know."

"It's boring, adult stuff," Justin said. "Adrienne said you can go out to the stables—"

"I wanna know!"

"OK, OK," he said, prying her from his leg. "You want a hand with that?" he said, indicating the stroller.

"Nah, we got him," Will said as Sonny grabbed the front of the stroller and lifted it up.

"Yeah you do," Justin said.

~~~

Ari was settled onto Justin's knee, pointing to some of the bigger words on the paperwork in front of them. He explained that as of first thing that morning, Olivia had signed the petition to the court to relinquish her parental rights, stating her consent for him to be formally adopted by Will.

("Consent means you agree to something, you say it's OK for someone to do something they want to do," Justin had said. Ari had nodded and then given him consent to kiss her cheek. He'd obliged.)

The paperwork had been filed at the courthouse immediately afterwards, and as a personal favour to Justin it had been brought to a judge soon after. As such, what Justin then gave Ari to pass to her daddies was a court-approved and sanctioned revocation of Olivia's parental rights.

"So that's it?" Will asked, looking at the page in his hand. "She's done? She doesn't...?"

"Not a single right," Justin said. "Can't even tell you what to dress him in."

"Hey," Sonny said, giving him a gentle shove, "this is it. This is everything we wanted."

Will nodded, handing the page back to Ari so she could return it to Grandpa Justin. Alex started to complain and so Will reached into the stroller and lifted him out, holding him close to his chest. Ari returned to the couch of her own accord, hauling herself up between her parents. Sonny put his arm around her as she leaned in, telling Alex that everything was OK.

And Justin sat at his desk, watched them together, and called today a good day.

~~~

"Oh I am keeping you," Sami said, hugging Alex to her body. "And now we get to!"

"No, Mom, _we_ get to keep him," Will said. "You get to visit. On pre-arranged and organised visits, spaced out at acceptable intervals."

"Hey," she protested lightly. "That's not fair. This my _grandson_."

"Yes he is," Will said, his arm tightening around Sonny's waist. "Which is why we agreed to this stupid party."

"Stu-stupid party?" she said. "My boy is leaving me. He's taking my grandbabies and he's leaving."

"He's getting out," Will said. "He's taking his husband and his children and going to the house and they're getting a dog."

"And they're going to live happily ever after," Sonny whispered into Will's ear before placing a kiss there.

"Be at the club, three pm, OK?" Sami said.

"Oh, we booked the movers for twelve," Sonny said, "sorry, we'll be long gone by then."

"He's kidding, Mom, he's—you're kidding," Will said. "She's still holding Alex. You're kidding."

"Yes, kidding, now give him back," Sonny joked, holding out his hands.

"Hey, if you're taking him from me then I want all the cuddles I can get," Sami said. "Are you sure about this?"

"Yes, Mom, we're sure," Will said. "We need this. I know we talked about moving... before, but now? We have to."

"It's not right. Ask me they should be the ones moving. We should run them—"

"Baby!" Will and Sonny said at the same time.

"What?"

"Small ears," Will said.

"He's barely aware of what anyone's saying."

"Yeah, not taking that chance," Sonny said, moving over to her and reclaiming his son. "You don't want to know the things that Arianna knows."

"What?"

"Yeah, she's far too clued in for a five-year old," Will said. "You need to learn to behave around them."

"Listen to my son, telling me what I should be doing." She folded her arms but the smile on her face softened it. "You always were the better parent than I was."

"Just did the opposite of what you did," Will dismissed with a laugh.

"Hey," Sami protested, "small ears."

"Yeah, that's different," Sonny said, "he'll learn that for himself one day. And you can't hit me, I'm holding your precious grandson."

"That, and I've put far too much work into your leaving party—"

"Which you're holding at my club," Sonny said. "So... you're welcome?"

"T was very helpful, some good ideas there."

"If he can make it three months without running the club into the ground, or changing the name to 'Club T' then I guess he'll do OK."

"You could stay, keep an eye on him?" Sami suggested. "Just a thought."

"Go... sort out party food," Will said, herding his mother towards the door. "Put up balloons or streamers or try to cancel our movers. We'll see you at the club at three. Maybe. Goodbye now!" he said as he closed the door behind her. "You don't think she'd actually cancel our movers, would she?"

"Booked them under a fake name," Sonny said.

"And that's why I love you."

"We don't have to go to the party. We can just get out of here."

"And have our moms come hunt us down? Really?"

"See here's what I think, Alex," Sonny said to the baby, "your daddy is just looking for the easy way out."

"And when you get to know your grandmothers you will understand," Will said, kissing Alex's head. "Someone's ready for a change."

"Philosophical," Sonny mused.

"No, smelly," Will laughed. "Hand him over, Kiriakis."

"You can have all the dirty diapers you want," Sonny said, putting Alex into Sonny's arms.

"I don't care," Will said. "I don't care, I'll do it all. I get to be his dad, Sonny. I really get to be his dad and I will take every moment that comes with that."

"Go, play with dirty diapers," Sonny said, turning to face the boxes that were stacked around the apartment. "Guess I'll continue with the packing?"

"Sounds like we have a plan," Will said. "Have fun with the boxes."

"And his real plan is revealed," Sonny laughed. "Go on. Go see to our boy. I got this."

Will kissed him, a little off centre on the lips, and then headed off to change Alex. Sonny checked the still-open box and then labelled it, folding the flaps back over before starting on the new one, making sure that each of the pictures were safe in bubble wrap before they were stored away. He'd been adamant about them being the last thing to go away; last in, first out. The pictures of their little family.

Will, Sonny, Will and Sonny at their wedding, Ari at various stages of her young life, and a print out of the first picture of the four of them in the hospital.

~~~

Will rescued Sonny and pulled him to one side. "We should think about going."

"One minute," he replied, putting his hands on Will's waist and holding him in place. "I want to take all this in."

"Take what in?"

"This," Sonny said. "This club that I built. The people here who mean so much to me. The three people who mean the world to me, who are my world. It's just... everything's here, we're all here. Together."

"You say that like we won't be together again."

"I say like it's going to be different, and you know it is."

"I know."

"I spoke to my brothers yesterday, know what they called this move? My 'seven year itch'."

"What? Isn't that to do with relationships or something?"

"Maybe, but when I was seven I went on my first exploration. It was just a few blocks away but it freaked Mom out a little. Then when I was fourteen I was just starting to figure out who I was, so that was-- Anyway, it's been almost seven years since I came back to Salem."

"What? No, it can't be."

"Not quite, but almost," Sonny said. "So to them it makes sense; seven years, move on."

"Well, so long as we get to come with you then we can go wherever you want."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah. House in the 'burbs, malls on weekends, parent and baby groups..."

"Oh you really know how to appeal to me," Sonny laughed.

"Yeah, I think I do," Will said. "You know, I think back to how scared I was about involving you in all this, in my life, and now look at us."

"Oh I had my concerns too," Sonny said, "getting involved with a guy who had a baby on the way? I knew that I had to be serious about this, about you, that I was either in or out."

"I'm so glad you're out," Will said with a grin and a wink.

"You know what I mean," Sonny laughed, pulling him in closer. "I had to be sure."

"Yeah, and you needed time to figure that out, I get it," Will said, his hands running down Sonny's arms.

"No, I knew. Early on, I knew. I knew you were my home, my heart, my world. I knew that you were the man I was going to spend my forever with, and Arianna? She was just part of that forever."

"When did you figure that out?"

"About two minutes after I fell in love with you," Sonny whispered, kissing him gently. "I think I always know this was where we were heading."

"You couldn't have given me a heads up then? Some warning perhaps?" Will quipped.

"You know what I mean, and I'm trying to be serious here."

"I'm sorry. Please continue."

"I never thought coming home would lead to all this, but I wouldn't change it for the world. A few of the steps along the way, maybe, but not where we are. Not what we have. I still can't believe that Grant was right about me, but he was and... and I'm glad for it. I like this life. No, I love this life that we have. This family we make, the love we have."

"The great adventurer, Sonny Kiriakis. All domesticated with a husband and two children."

"And not a single regret," he smiled before going in for the kiss.

"Hey, hey, hey," T interrupted, "save it 'til you get home. Which is a bit of a drive away so I think it's time you two hit the road."

"Trying to get rid of me already?" Sonny joked.

"Yeah, been tryin' for years and I'm ready for this so go on, get out. Go... have your life."

"Have my life?" Sonny laughed. He took Will's hand in his and smiled. "Yeah, think I'll do that."

"Having said that, good luck getting the kids from the grandparents," T said, indicating where Ari was currently holding court with her grandparents, Alex nestled safely and happily in the crook of Justin's arm.

"You get him, I'll grab her," Will said. "Then we can go home."

~~~

The kids were strapped into the car, Arianna showing Alex the different pictures on the pages of her new book. Once Sonny had triple checked the straps he shut the car door and turned to give his parents yet another one-more-hug goodbye.

"Call as soon as you get there, OK? And drive safe," Adrienne told him.

"Yes, Mom," he replied, humouring her for the twentieth time.

"And we'll come up on the weekend, after you've had a chance to settle in. Or is that too soon? Is that too soon? It's too soon. Monday, or would Tuesday work best? I have a meeting first thing but I can reschedule, I can reschedule if Tuesday's better and—"

"Little help here, Dad?" Sonny laughed.

"I can't help it," Adrienne said, putting a hand to his cheek. "My baby is leaving home."

"I... I left home a long time ago, Mom."

"Not really, you were always here. And now you won't be. You have your own family now and I... I guess I'm finally realising that my baby is all grown up."

"Finally," Sonny grinned, giving her another one-more-hug goodbye. "Love you."

"Love you too, baby. Now go, be with your babies and call me, OK? Second you get in?" Justin pulled her back and allowed Sonny the space to get into the car just about the same time that Will had freed himself from his own mother.

"You ready?" Will asked, but he soon noticed that Sonny's attention wasn't on him, or even their families.

He followed Sonny's gaze to the corner where JJ was standing, hands shoved in the pockets of his jeans. He pulled one out and gave a small wave, but there was no smile behind it.

"Yeah," Sonny said, still looking at JJ, "I'm ready."

"Hey," Will said, hooking a finger under Sonny's chin and redirecting his attention. "It's done. It's over with."

"Yeah," Sonny grinned, looking in the rear view mirror and smiling. "It is."

"You ready, Ari?" Will asked, turning to look at her.

She glanced up from her book and nodded, but then went back to telling Alex some story that bared little resemblance to the one that Will knew was in the pages. But it didn't matter; Alex watched her intently, giving the impression he was hanging on her every word. As the engine purred into life he reached out and put a hand on her face, grinning when she started to laugh.

"OK, then," Will said, facing forward, "let's go."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just the epilogue left - that'll be up this weekend.


	10. Epilogue

Will rolled over, still half asleep, and stretched out to ease the muscles still tight from sleep. Sonny's side of the bed was empty as he'd expected, the remaining heat revealing that he'd been gone a while.

It was still dark outside but it didn't feel like winter was setting in. Fall was hanging on to each new day, making it a very mild November. A Fall where the leaves clung to the tree and only a strong gust of wind (or the helpful bat of a branch with a rake handle) would dislodge them. They would be swept around the garden by the wind, the excited kicks of children, or the playful jumps of a dog that was really no longer a puppy. Not that any of them even remotely acted their age.

Outside the bedroom door he heard the scampering noise of paws and he pretended not to hear Arianna's hissed commands to her to come back, to not wake Daddy, that it wasn't time yet. He pretended not to hear the chink of a mug, or maybe a glass, against something else on the tray as the hissed whispers got louder.

Flopping back onto the bed he closed his eyes, tried to keep the smile from his face, and waited.

Then it all went quiet.

He couldn't look, what if he ruined it?

But what if they'd gone back for something? He could be lying here, pretending to be asleep, for ages if they—

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY!"

Three voices and some excited barks burst into the room and made him jump for real. He half scrambled back against the headboard as Arianna and Alex launched themselves at the bed, crawling over to him in order to give him hugs and kisses. The dog ran around the bed, half-jumping up but knowing that the bed was out of bounds.

"Emmy, down," Ari commanded, holding out her hand like she'd been taught.

Emmy obeyed, sitting with her tail sweeping from side to side as if she was going for a part time job as their cleaner.

"Happy birthday, Daddy," Ari said, sitting herself next to him on the bed. "Did we scare you?"

"Yes," Will said honestly, eyeing Sonny who was trying to hide a laugh. He helped Alex right himself on the bed next to him and was rewarded with a smile that lit up those dark eyes he adored. Will kissed each of his children on their heads and then held out his hands for the tray. "There had better be coffee on there, husband of mine."

"As if I'd forget, birthday boy," Sonny replied, sitting on the bed and putting the tray down on Will's legs. He leant forward and kissed him. "Happy birthday."

"Thank you," Will said, picking up the mug of coffee while he surveyed the tray.

Small wrapped boxes were on one side, varying degrees of neatness revealing who they were from without the need for tags. One looked like the dog had tried to take a bite out of it; that one had to Ari's. There was a short stack of pancakes, fruit sandwiched between layers, a small side of bacon, and the whole thing covered in syrup. When Will looked up at Sonny he watched his husband's eyes flicker to their daughter and he knew that she'd been responsible for toppings this year.

Stuck at an angle that most would call 'jaunty' was a small flag on a toothpick. Will turned it around to see the number 30 written on it in Ari's best handwriting.

"Because you're thirty," Ari said helpfully.

"Old now," Alex giggled on the other side.

"Remind me why we thought children were a good idea?" Will quipped, taking the offending flag out and dropping it beside the plate. He took a mouthful of his coffee (god bless his husband who made it first on these mornings, so that when it arrived it was immediately drinkable) before setting the mug down. "Right, who's first?"

"Me!" Alex said, reaching out for the presents. He took one and started to pull at the paper, pouting when Sonny removed it from him.

"It's not your birthday, little man," he said, hauling Alex so he was sitting in his lap, "it's daddy's birthday. Which means he gets to open them."

"It's OK, Alex. You can help me open my presents next year," Ari said.

Will pulled at the tear that Alex had made, removing the paper to find a small, white and plain box inside it. He opened it further to remove a brass nameplate, the kind that goes on mailboxes.

"Alex wanted to make it official," Sonny explained, "seeing as we're all now one family."

The name Horton-Kiriakis was imprinted into the metal and Will ran his fingers over it.

"I mean, we know you're still writing under Horton, but since this was the year we finally got ourselves organised we felt it should be marked."

"I love it, thank you," Will said, moving the tray to the now-free side of the bed so he could move forward and kiss Alex's cheek. As he always did he started to giggle and push as his daddy's face, which only then encouraged him to kiss him more and more and more. When he was done he moved to kiss Sonny gently and then sat back down.

"Me next," Ari said. "Emmy helped wrap it."

"Well isn't she a good dog?" Will played along.

As if in response, Emmy barked.

"Quiet, Emmy!" Ari commanded, and the dog then lay down with her head on her paws.

"How is it that she does everything Ari says and nothing I tell her?" Sonny asked, his arms wrapping around Alex as he started to play with the discarded wrapping paper.

"'cause she's my puppy," Ari said, "and you keep calling her the wrong name."

"What's wrong with 'Not Oscar'?" Sonny laughed. "It's almost right."

"It's totally different, Papa," Ari protested. When she thought no one was looking she snuck one of the bacon strips from the plate and dangled it over the edge of the bed. Emmy was up and licking at Ari's hand instantly before settling with her illicit snack.

"No more," Sonny told her.

"Come on, Daddy, open it!" Ari said when she realised Will hadn't even started with her present.

"Just in case you're wondering, it was her idea," Sonny said, resting his chin on Alex's head.

"I can... see that," Will laughed, turning the small frame around so he could properly read it. Inside the silver frame was a page, carefully removed from a book. His book. _For the greatest muse I have ever known or loved. Even when you wake at three in the morning._

"That's me," Ari said.

"Yes it is," Will grinned, "I dedicated my first book to you."

"And your second to Papa and your third to Alex. But I was first. And look," she said, at where she'd had help writing the note at the bottom. _A reminder that great things come from a first step._ "Papa wrote it out for me to copy. But the hearts were all my idea."

"I was worried there for a moment," Will laughed, winking at Sonny. "It's lovely, thank you. I'll put it up in the study where I can see it every time I write."

"My turn, my turn, my turn," Sonny said, bouncing up and down on the bed a little much to Alex's amusement.

"Remind me, who are the kids again?" Will asked as he picked up the last box. It was smaller than the others, but with neat corners and perfectly aligned tape he knew who it was from. He paused to take a mouthful of his coffee before he started to pick at the flap. "Did you glue this down?"

"I can help," Ari said, moving on to her knees. "Emmy's real good at getting things out."

"I know," Will sighed, as the dog – after hearing her name – forgot the rules and jumped up, putting her paws onto the bedspread. "Down!"

Emmy ignored Will, looking to Ari for the order she would follow. Ari lifted Emmy's paws and she took the hint, resuming her spot beside the bed.

"OK, I need some scissors or something," Will said, looking around the box to see if there was another way in.

"Come here," Sonny laughed, taking it from him.

Within seconds he'd peeled back some of the tape, and then Alex helped him pull off the paper until there was a small wooden box left in Sonny's hand. Alex ran his fingers over it, exploring the ridges and carvings, before pushing it out of Sonny's hand where it fell onto the bed, the lid springing open.

"Oh my god, Sonny..." Will said quietly, picking up the ribbon wheel. "Is this...?" 

"Yup," he grinned.

"Where did you find it?"

"A man needs to have his secrets."

"No, Papa," Ari said, "no secrets from each other."

"This is different, Ari," Sonny said. "Daddy was looking for that for a long time."

"So why not tell him where you found it?"

"Because now we have somewhere to buy him presents that he can't get for himself," Sonny said.

"I didn't think they made this anymore."

"It's rare, but they do. Trust you to fall in love with a really rare typewriter. Makes it impossible to get parts for it."

"I like things that are one of a kind," Will said, putting the typewriter ribbon on the bedside unit, well out of reach of children, canines and coffee, "that's why I married you."

"That's the only reason?" Sonny pouted, mock offended.

"There are a few more," Will grinned as he leaned in for the kiss.

"Let's go, Alex," Ari said, pushing her parents apart so she could haul her brother free. "They're going to be all kissy."

She helped him down from the bed and held his hand as they headed out of the room, Emmy trotting obediently behind them. Will and Sonny watched them go, amused smiles on their faces, until they were sure that they had put enough distance between them.

Then Sonny pushed forward, pinning Will to be the bed underneath him. "Happy birthday," he said before kissing him.

Will shifted as best he could under the weight of Sonny's body until he'd mad enough room for Sonny to drop between his legs. "So, how does it feel to no longer have a husband in his twenties?"

"Awful," Sonny replied, "already looking at trading you in for a younger model."

"Is that right?"

"Yeah. I need someone who can keep up with the kids, and now you're old—"

"You realise you're older than me, right?"

"Yeah, but you're only as old as the person you're feeling," Sonny grinned, a hand straying to Will's hip and thigh as if to prove the point.

"Is it wrong that I'm dreading this party?" Will said as Sonny settled down onto his chest. "I really don't want to see what Mom's got planned."

"T says it's all in good taste, and he's vetoed a lot of the more... extreme stuff."

"Remind me not to tell him to his face what a good manager he makes, we'll never hear the end of it."

"If you can get a word in edgeways around him extolling the virtues of marriage and parenthood? You can certainly try," Sonny laughed. "You'd think he was the first person to ever get married and start a family."

Will carded his fingers through Sonny's hair as they lay together for a moment. Then, "Is that a grey hair?"

"Probably," Sonny said.

"You're no fun anymore," Will said, hitting the back of Sonny's head playfully. "Trust you to grow old graciously."

"Well why wouldn't I?" Sonny countered. He propped himself up on his elbows so he was able to look at Will. "Look at what I have, what I had before I turned thirty. I have the kind of life people wait lifetimes for and I get to spend my lifetime having it. I don't care about growing old, so long as I get to grow old with you."

"Romantic."

"And you love me for it."

"I think my breakfast is getting cold," Will said as Sonny started to crawl purposefully up his body.

"Ari dropped one of the pancakes on the floor. I'm not telling you which one."

"And you let her put it back on the plate?"

"When she asked if it was dirty she then said Emmy could lick it clean. I decided floor pancake was a better option."

"Emmy would have eaten it," Will pointed out as Sonny's face hung a few centimetres above his.

"Knowing that dog's knack for obeying Ari's orders? I wouldn't have put it past her to just lick it clean. I'll make some fresh ones later."

"The door is still open," Will whispered as Sonny started to pepper kisses on and around his mouth.

"So be quiet," Sonny grinned as he ground his hips down. "Birthday boy treats, and seeing as we're spending the day in Salem we're short on time."

"You sure you're OK with us going back?"

"Mom swears they're still on their honeymoon, not due back for at least a week. Now shut up and let me feel you up," Sonny laughed, kissing Will's jaw.

"Like I said, romantic," Will laughed.

"You're killing the mood here."

"There's... floor pancakes and coffee on the bed with us, our kids are just down the end of the hallway and our door is open. You really want to go there, Kiriakis?" Will laughed.

"Horton-Kiriakis, thank you," Sonny sighed, rolling off Will and lying on the bed.

"Just... blow me later and we'll call it even."

"When later?"

"At the party?" Will grinned, turning his head to look at Sonny.

"At your thirtieth birthday party, thrown by your mother at which most of Salem will be in attendance at?"

"Yup," Will grinned.

"You have no intention of growing old gracefully, do you?" Sonny laughed.

"Not if I can help it," Will laughed. "Hey," he said, his hand falling out and onto Sonny's chest where he held it, "you don't have to come. We don't have to go. We can stay here with the kids—"

"Your mom—"

"Will understand."

"They're not going to be there," Sonny said, kissing the back of Will's hand.

"No, but Abby will."

"Abby and I... we're OK."

"Son—"

"It's your birthday, the kids are excited and they want to go, I need to check up on T, your mom wants to have people tell her that she can't possibly be old enough to have a thirty-year old son, and I need to give my husband the most _epic_ of blow jobs in the club bathroom."

"Bathroom? What's wrong with the office?"

"Are we doing this whole disgraceful thing properly or not?" Sonny laughed. "Besides. They're good quality bathrooms. Also people don't have keys for the disabled one."

"Good thinking," Will said, tapping on Sonny's chest with their combined hands.

"Also Mom wants me to sign about a million copies of the book, so it just saves her coming out here and doing her whole spiel about roads and drivers and routes and how we're just so out of the way like that's not the point!"

"She's proud of you," Will said. "So am I."

"High praise indeed, coming from the writer in the family."

"Hey," Will said, reaching to grab Ari's present and holding it above their heads. "I dedicated my first book to Ari because she was what made my writing worth reading. Alex was... your Ari."

"So long as everyone knows I'm a one-book kinda guy. I'll leave that family business to my talented husband."

"And there was me planning a hostile takeover of your club empire," Will laughed, putting the frame down. "We should get up."

"I'm good."

"Me too. But we should get up."

"Give me one reason why," Sonny challenged.

As if in response there was a loud crash, a sharp bark, Ari calling out Emmy's name and Alex's wail. Sonny let go of Will's hand and sat up, putting out his own when Will tried to do the same.

"I'll go," he said.

"No," Will said. "We'll go."

~~

Jackson "Sonny" Kiriakis usually prefers to leave the writing to his husband, Will. He made an exception for this, his debut novel " _Confessions of a second-time first-time father_ ".

In an honest, raw, and powerful account, taken and developed from his original blog, Sonny details the struggles they faced to have a child via surrogacy. Confessions takes us from their decision to expand their family, through their dealings with a system that let them down and betrayal from those closest to them.

_There's something seriously wrong with the world and its laws if events like this can truly happen. (New York Times)_

In an effort not to spoil the ending, Sonny only wishes to say that he lives with his husband and family in a house with a garden, a study for Will to write in, a balcony for Sunday morning coffee, and a dog called Emmy (because it couldn't be Oscar).

_For my muse – the only person my husband struggles to say no to._


End file.
